In Venam
by MissJanuary
Summary: Selfishness and desire are human traits. They are not traits born to Guards. Decisiveness, loyalty, and fear are as much a part of me as my wings are meant to be. And yet, I'd let it them fade…for him.
1. Prologue

_**In Venam **_

**Summary: **Selfishness and desire are human traits. They are not traits born to Guards. Decisiveness, loyalty, and fear are as much a part of me as my wings are meant to be. And yet, I'd let my wings fade…for him.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Twilight, I just have a lot of feelings.

**A/N:** I'm back like a pesky cold, bitches! Not sure what In Venam means, Google translator, people. I'm not doing all the work for you. LOL. Oh, and I'mma workin' with the amazing **Maxipoo1024** again on this one. She is the Tide Stick to my sloppy writing, and I love her for it.

_**Prologue **_

_~IV~_

_**EPOV**_

I stared out the window, the rain came down in a slow, lazy drizzle. The sky was coloured in shades of washed out blues and greys. Shoes squeaked and chairs whined noisily across the white and black linoleum floor.

I listened to the steady heartbeats of people around me and tried like hell to tune out the arbitrary inner yammering of the teenage crowd I was surrounded by.

The air shifted, stilling, and blew back at me. The scent it carried was…other. Certainly not a shifter though, just not a human. No human smelled like that. I lifted my head and looked to the front of the classroom. There, standing at the head of the class to the left of Mr. Banner was a thin, pale girl. Her hair flowed in soft chocolate and amber waves down her back. Her curves were humble, understated. She handed a slip to Mr. Banner, and he directed her to the only seat left in the room—right next to me.

My body prickled and charged, rippling with electricity. My mouth flooded with hot venom. The closer she stalked the more _aware_ my body became.

She sat down and gazed around the room with a cautious eye. She seemed on edge and unsure. I watched from the corner of my eye as she ran her index finger over a carving on the desk's surface.

J.S.

M.N.

Her finger traced each letter once, twice, then stopped, and she turned toward me.

"Hello," she said, her voice rose as if she were asking a question.

I took a deep breath, inhaling that _other_ scent. I couldn't put my finger on it. It intrigued me. _Sandalwood and lemongrass? No. Cocoa and sweet tea? Maybe dew? Morning on a chilly day mixed with…something, _my brain mused_. _ _I wonder if she tastes anything like she smells._

"Hello," I answered, realizing I'd taken a beat too long to answer her. "I'm Edward Cullen."

"I know," she whispered, flushing a gentle shade of pink.

"I'm sorry—"

"Isabella," she announced, cutting me off.

It was then that I realized that I couldn't _hear_ her. I couldn't hear her thoughts. Her mind was completely still and mysteriously silent. So was her heart. I inhaled again. _No, not a vampire, but no heartbeat. Isabella, what are you? _I pushed my thoughts aside and said, "Welcome to Forks, Isabella." My voice was smooth and even, but I felt anything but. My insides shook. _Who, or __**what,**__ is sitting next me?_

Her brunt chocolate eyes roamed my face, pinning me where I sat. She was utterly stunning. She simply smiled and turned to face the front of class.

My mind clicked through all the possibilities: no audible heartbeat, unearthly scent, and impenetrable thoughts, but not a vampire. If she was a shifter, she was completely unique in that she didn't smell of foul, rotting garbage. I ruled out Child of the Moon as well. They had fast, erratic heartbeats, and that certainly wasn't the case here.

A succubus? Maybe, but high schools weren't exactly their usual stomping grounds. The bar in Port Angeles, maybe, but an under-populated high school in Forks, not likely.

Deftly, a note slid in front of me.

_**You're putting way too much thought into this.**_

My head snapped to the side, and my eyes zeroed in on her beautiful face. "_You can hear me?_" I thought, shock ripping through my brain.

Her subtle nod confirmed my thought, and suddenly my mind was a hive of activity.

_All right, add that to the list. No heartbeat, smells like heaven, silent mind, and mind reader_.

No doubt about it, I was flummoxed.

She giggled and the sound pulled me from my reverie. The bell rang and I quickly gathered my things, ready to move to the next period. Maybe Alice would have answers.

"Don't count on it," Isabella whispered as she pushed away from the desk, pulling her the strap of her book bag up her shoulder.

**End Notes: Yeah, I know it's short. I'm going to try to keep the chapters fairly short, but don't hold me to that, I can be a wordy bitch sometimes. I love hearing from you guys, drop me a line and tell me what you think so far. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The list of things I own is pretty damn short. Twilight isn't on it, so no infringement intended. **

**A/N: **So you decided to stick around… I don't know whether to laugh and point or thank you. For the sake of readership, I'll go with the latter. Squishy hugs for all. And now on with it.

Maxipoo is my beta and she rocks, so squeezes are in order.

**Also I'm looking for a banner maker. Anyone out there interested?**

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_**Chapter 1**_

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

Alice sat perched on her chair like a tiny bird would on a thin tree branch. Her hands were folded and her face was impassive.

"Who is she?" I growled in a low pitch.

"Who is who? The new girl?"

I dropped to my seat with a thud and exhaled an unnecessary puff of air.

"Hell if I know."

"So you didn't see her coming?" I asked, believing the omniscient pixie in the family would have maybe foreseen the arrival of something like Isabella.

"Nope," she answered and ran a hand through her short, black hair. "I just heard through the grapevine that Forks High had a new addition."

I had a hard time believing that not only did Isabella evade me, but Alice as well. Granted, Alice's visions weren't something to be relied on solely because they often changed, but someone as befuddling as Isabella walking into Forks…her family's move surely wasn't a spontaneous one. I roughly raked my fingers through my hair, pulling a little. I looked back to Alice, who seemed to be waiting on me to say or do something, and tore out a piece of paper from my binder.

Quickly, I scribbled: **She has no fucking heartbeat, Alice. At least not one I can hear. She can hear my thoughts, too. Though, for some damned reason, I can't hear hers.**

I left out the part about her smelling remarkably sinful and sweet. That part was just for me. There was also no need to divulge that her scent—honey and water lilies?—was wickedly arousing.

Alice gasped and her cool, buttercup eyes slowly drifted my way. "Really?" Her voice was a whisper, a secret.

I nodded and went about faking my way through the not-so-riveting lecture about the untimely death of Abraham Lincoln. The same questions that tumbled around in my mind raced like a hamster on a wheel in Alice's. Her thoughts began on a simple line—the same line mine had wandered to—but soon ambled off on another trail all together.

_Why is she here? Does she know about our family? Did the Volturi send her? _

I hadn't really had a single iota of concern for the Volturi, but now a cold trickle of paranoia slithered down my spine.

_**~IV~**_

At home we discussed the newest addition to Forks damp, cloud covered anti-metropolis.

"So she's a supernatural being. Doesn't mean she's trouble," Rosalie said, flipping through a magazine as though her time and concern weren't worth fully participating in the current conversation.

"No heartbeat…maybe she's a zombie?" Emmett offered with a wide grin.

"Idiot," Rose mumbled.

"It's a valid thought, Rose," our father, Carlisle, defended. "How many other beings out there have no heartbeat?"

"So we're entertaining the idea of the walking dead?" Jasper chimed in from across the room.

"Awesome!" Emmett hollered and clapped, looking a lot like an excited Pomeranian.

Esme stepped into the room and took her place next to Carlisle. "I think we should entertain all possibilities. It's naive and narrow minded to think that there aren't more supernatural beings out there. Before you were turned, did you believe in vampires?" She looked round the room with a question in her eyes.

She was right. Before becoming vampires ourselves, not one of us would have fathomed the idea of it.

Emmett slapped his hand down on the table and shouted, "Haha, the zombie apocalypse begins in Forks! Fucking Forks!"

Everyone looked at Em like maybe he'd sniffed a little too much White Out as a kid.

"Okay… she's not human. We all agree on that. But why is she _here_?" Jasper, like Alice, looked at the bigger picture. He saw the shadows of intention behind an act. It was burned into him like his venom, like his own DNA. Suspicion was the first line of defense during the civil war, and Jasper took to his role as a solider like hydrogen to oxygen. What the army taught him changed him forever. He saw everything as a strategic move, and he was constantly manoeuvring to stay ahead of the gunfire. Guns were set aside, but Jasper remained alert and analyzing.

"Maybe she's just drawn here. I mean we're not the only, um, non-humans in the area. Maybe it's the area that called to her," Esme suggested.

"And you couldn't read her?" Carlisle asked, looking away from his wife, a small feminine vampire in her early 30s.

"No there was just this…hum. Like a high pitched frequency. But not a single thought."

"Maybe she was blocking you?" Alice didn't sound so sure about that.

"Thoughts are subconscious, mostly. Involuntary. Like a rote behaviour. It just happens. Shopping list get built because you thought of what you'd like for dinner, but why were you thinking about dinner? Because you're hungry. Simple things trigger thought. We can stop them, guide them in other directions, and actively think on a topic, but even when you're blocking me, Alice, you're thinking about _something_. There was_ nothing_."

Carlisle paced the floor, running a cool hand over his face. "Until she gives us a reason not to trust her, we do." He stopped and turned to face the rest of the family. "Perhaps, like us, she just wants to blend in."

"Do nothing?" Jazz questioned, looking a tad incredulous.

"Do nothing until we _have to_. Until she gives us a reason." Carlisle nodded once and walked from the room.

I could hear all the questions buzzing around me. I understood their worry and their frustration, but Carlisle was right. She'd given us no reason to believe that she was a threat, and we would not treat her as such until she gave us good cause.

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**End Notes: Zombie? Maybe. Are you team Zombie, ready to dive head long into the apocalypse with Emmett? **

**I love pimping a good fic so every here and again I'll tell you about a story I'm reading. **

**Rec: She's Moody by Jackqueenking. Bella's a moody kinda gal, Edward's a laid back kind of guy. There's shenanigans and sexual tension and some pretty good giggles in there. It's a WIP and it needs a little fic lovin', so go get on it. **


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I have a big mouth, fuzzy socks, and a love affair with chocolate that can't be stopped. What I don't have, the rights to Twilight. SM owns those. **

**A/N:** I have way too much cleaning to do, but yet, here I am, writing away. Thanks are owed to **Maxipoo,** she is my everything, and to the lovely lady that stepped up to make my banner **BobbysIdjit**.

This is the first chapter in Isabella's POV, hope you dig it.

_**Chapter 2**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

I watched him pull a charcoal grey v-neck over his head. I watched him push his feet into barely worn shoes. And I watched him scoop his keys off the dresser and leave.

I've watched for years.

Since he was two years old, I've watched. He became my ward when he nearly drowned as a toddler. For fifteen years, I folded my wings around him and kept him from harm. When he was seventeen, disease nearly stole his life away. The thought of Edward ceasing to live pitched panic into my slow beating heart like a kamikaze fastball, and I knew then that I loved the boy I'd been sent to guard.

As Elizabeth Masen lay dying, beaten by disease, worn by fever, I whispered in her ear. I spoke of a doctor and a way to save her only son, keep him from the same fate her husband met only days before.

That night, Edward Masen was taken from the mortal plane and ushered into immortality.

Fear made me selfish.

For a century, I lurked in the ethereal plane, manoeuvring him like a Chess piece around danger. Keeping safe what was mine. Now, I wanted to lay claim to him.

Choosing to show myself and insert myself into his world was the most selfish thing I'd ever done by far. And yet I couldn't bring myself to regret it.

Sitting next to him today, and truly feeling his presence, made me giddy. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to brush my fingertips along his jaw and watch the muscles there flex the way they did when he was angry. I wanted to run my palms down the expanse of his naked back and experience the feel of him.

The mere thought of touching Edward sent a shock wave through me. My pulse raced, and I wondered, as I sat in the chair next to him, if he would hear my heart beat out for him.

As I fluttered out of human existence and into _The Other, _I thought about the sins piling up behind me.

Coveting

Greed

Lust

When we're born, created really, our kind is programmed—for lack of a better term—to feel and understand certain things, things that make us more efficient at our jobs. Certain emotions are hardwired into us—ones that help us keep safe our charges. Emotions like fear, sympathy, and empathy all allow creatures like me to see the bigger picture. Without a clear sense of fear, of danger, we would never be motivated to protect.

Without things like sympathy, empathy and compassion, we could never even hope to understand our human wards. And again, the less care and concern we had for them, the less likely we would be to ever _want_ to protect them.

Problem solving and analytical skills were innate to us. Unlike some of the humans I've had the pleasure to observe, I have the ability to weigh the options quickly and without having to factor in all the nonsense that comes with emotional attachment.

Guarding Edward changed me irrevocably. Love was never an emotion I was supposed to feel. It simply wasn't in my repertoire. Then again, neither was selfishness. At least it hadn't been up until about 95 years ago, when I whispered into a dying woman's ear and changed the course of Edward's life forever.

We Fell. It happened. It wasn't supposed to, but then again, man was never supposed to invent the atom bomb. Look how that turned out. Angels Fell all the time. They Fell for love, for want, for need. Falling was never an easy thing; the process was painful as all get out from what I understood. Falling meant leaving your wings behind, letting them fade. It was something I was sure would be akin to asking a human to hand over a vital organ or perhaps stripping them of their skin.

I hadn't Fallen. Not yet. Angels could slip and shift in and out of the human plane as quickly and as easily as walking through a door. The complications came afterwards. Once we crossed the plane, our bodies began to _adjust, _and our wings become a purely ethereal substance. Our eye colour morphed into something more worthy of a human appearance and less…halogen. The longer we stayed in the human plane, the more our bodies changed. As I discovered today, our heart beat stronger, though it would never beat as a human's did. My heart would never create such a loud drumming noise. And fast—my heart would never beat so furiously.

Slowly, over time, emotions and other sensations would begin to flood our systems, like being re-booted, and little by little being re-programmed. My sense of smell, for example, was nonexistent, not needed. In the human plane, it was weak, but it would grow at a steady pace. The same was true of my sense of taste. But the most impressive and intriguing changes happened on a psychological level. The ability to truly feel slowly leaked into our consciousness. To love and to hate. Ambition, need…desire would all trickle through me like a leaky faucet and soon enough I'd be drowning it.

Today, sitting next to Edward, stirred things inside me— alien things, things meant for lower creatures like humans, demons, and the Fay. Lust.

Tomorrow I'll go to school, participate in a charade again, just for the chance to smell him again and to feel that electric prickle course through me again. It truly was the sweetest torture.

For now, I bid my time until daylight, watching him from _The Other_.

**End Notes: **I often have a play list that I use for stories, I build it as I write, sometimes the music is a big part of story. This time I'm stumped. I haven't quite found the right songs to go with this story. Any suggestion?

**REC TIME:**

Deviant by **planetblue. ** First he pissed her off, and then he turned her on. Very love/hate, push/pull going on with Bella and Manchu (Edward), and I love it. So head over to FFN and check it out.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I'm just playing with what SM created, no infringement intended. **

**A/N: Maxipoo** is my beta, she is made of awesome. That is all.

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_**Chapter 3**_

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

_Routine. Stick with your routines_, I chanted to myself as I entered the school. I went to my locker, gathered my books, and with Alice by my side, I walked towards my first period class.

"_It's only an hour. Relax."_

_Relax? _I thought, rolling my eyes. What did she know? She didn't have some supernatural anomaly sitting next her in science class. I suddenly understood the human urge to drink. Jangling nerves could surely be calmed by a shot of whiskey…or eight.

"Go to class, Alice," I ordered. She wasn't exactly being helpful, and the way she was looking at me made my teeth grind.

"Ass," she hissed at me as she scampered off towards her home room.

Maybe she was right, maybe I was an ass, but I fully intended on being a very cautious ass. My eyes quickly shot around the room, looking for signs of a threat. Nothing but your standard science-type paraphernalia; it all appeared perfectly average. I walked to my seat, nodding to Mr. Banner as I passed him.

"A little early this morning, Mr. Cullen?" he said as he sorted through the stacks of papers littering his desktop.

"I live with four other teenagers. You'd want out too."

He chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Well, since you're here, would you mind handing out these booklets? One to a team."

I took the stack from him and dispersed them accordingly.

"I need to grab the TV," he mumbled to me and left the room.

I finished my chore at a slow, human pace and dropped down to my seat. I looked up at the white ticking clock above the black board and sighed_. A good twenty minutes before class starts._

I took my pen and binder out and began doodling. My mind slipped and wandered, and when I caught up with it, the classroom had filled, Mr. Banner was talking, and Isabella was sitting next to me smiling.

I looked at the clock, class had begun fifteen minutes ago. Where had I gone for more than half an hour? My pen was still gripped between my fingers, and the enter paper was covered in ink. Wings? I'd spent the last thirty plus minutes drawing wings?

Next to me, Isabella let out a soft snicker. "You should pay attention, Edward." Her voice was soft, so soft it carried almost no weight, no sound. No human would have heard her.

"_What are you?" _I thought, looking directly into muddy brown eyes.

"A seventeen year old girl," she answered in that same weightless voice.

"_You lie."_

"Yes." Her face did not betray her. She never flinched.

"_What are you?"_ I asked again, my inner voice taking on a demanding, rough tone.

"Human."

"A human without a heartbeat. I think not. Try again!" I challenged her. My eyes never left her face.

The lights went out, the TV hummed, and Mr. Banner reminded us to pay attention and keep quiet. All of it sounded like a drone of bees: buzzing, humming, annoying. Not worth my attention in the least.

Isabella, on the other hand, had my full and undivided attention when the lights blinked off and her eyes took on a…glow.

It was minimal, but it was there. They were a deep, luminescent amber, as though someone had buried a flashlight in the soil and the light could be seen shining from beneath the earth.

I stared and smiled.

"_Your eyes…you're going to have to do something about that."_ I showed her what she looked like to me, and she quickly averted her gaze, lowering her eyes to the table. _"Normal, human eyes don't do that."_

The rest of the class sat, lost in their own thoughts and utterly oblivious to the fact that two supernatural beings were in their midst.

_No heartbeat, mind reader, smells like nothing I've ever encountered…and her eyes glow. _

Without looking up at me, she spoke, "No heartbeat that you can hear. And you have come by this scent before. You just don't remember it."

"_How would I not remember something like this? Something so unique that I can't put a name to it?" _Seconds later it occurred to me, and I turned to face her. "_I was human the last time I…" _I didn't finish my thought. I didn't need to.

Silently, she bobbed her head, confirming what I thought. Her eyes remained downcast, her hands clasped together tightly.

"Look at me," I pleaded.

Her glowing, amber eyes fixed on my face.

"You're older than me?"

She nodded discreetly.

"You know what I am?"

"Yes," she whispered, "I am the reason you are what you are."

The bell rang and with the grace of a ballerina, she rose from her chair and flitted out of the room. Mere seconds ticked by as I digested what Isabella had just confessed. I tossed my things in my bag and pushed away from the table. The chair whined against the floor.

Much faster than I should have, I bolted from the room. I looked down the corridor, now flooded with students, and found no sign of the girl. The hall a dead end to my right, she couldn't have gotten far. I moved through the growing crowd, sniffing the air for the heavenly scent, but there was literally no trace of her anywhere.

_**~IV~**_

"Carlisle, she said she was responsible for _what I am_!" My voice boomed around the dining room. "What the _fuck_ does that mean?" I knew I was demanding answers to things he didn't understand, but my confusion had warped into anger. Sheer frustration bent me into an angry thing.

"I can't answer that, son, and you know that." He sighed and took a seat at the table. Esme sat next to him and gently stroked his hand.

"Well, I'm not sure what she meant, but we've got new information now," Jasper said to the group.

"New information?" Rose looked to Jasper, her eyebrows pulled together in concentration.

"Yesterday, we had a new girl with no heartbeat and the ability to read minds," Jazz explained.

Once again, I'd left her scent out of the narrative.

Jazz straightened his shoulders and gave a quick tug to the hem of his shirt. "Today, we know not only that can she hear Edward's thoughts, but her eyes glow, she proclaims to be older than him, and has apparently crossed paths with him sometime during his human life."

"I've never heard of a mind reading, glowy-eyed zombie before," Emmett said. "So I guess that rules out the not-quite dead?"

The room was silent for a bit before Carlisle spoke. "I wouldn't rule anything out. Legend has us sleeping in coffins and cowering at the sight of a cross."

We all snickered at that. Books had it wrong, and movies were no better, so maybe we were dealing with a zombie. One very intelligent, beautiful, non-decaying zombie. The shoe didn't fit. At all.

"Wait," Alice said in an excited voice. "You said you lost track of time. Zoned out?" She looked to me, her eyes were wide.

I dropped my weight to my left leg, shifting unnecessarily. "Yes. I lost a little more than a half hour."

"Maybe that's her doing as well." Alice's suggestion had my mind reeling.

A creature that could defy time?

"What were you doing when you came to?" Esme asked, sounding very interested.

"I was drawing." I reached into the book bag I'd flung onto the dining room table, and flipped to the page I'd been doodling on. I turned it and pushed it to the centre of the table.

"Wings?" Emmett looked as confused as I felt. "Like faery wings or angel wings?"

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**End Notes: So we've got a glowy-eyed flying, mind reading zombie? You're reviews are making my damn day so keep them coming. **

**READER POLL: What site do prefer to read your teasers on? **


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** This is my brilliant disclaimer: I don't own it. Done.

The reviews I'm getting are wonderful, you guys seriously rock. I owe some love to **The Fictionators** for the Teaser Monday's. More than a few of you have found your way here because of them. So thanks, ladies. Gropes and kisses for all.

Everyone say Hi to **Maxipoo1024**, she's the one cleaning up my messes. And we owe a tip of the hat to a sexy little banner maker named **BobbysIdjit**.

Okay I'll zip it now so you can get to what you want.

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_**Chapter 4**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

_I said too much_.

As soon as I was through the classroom door, I vanished into _The Other_. Edward couldn't follow me there. For some reason, the transition from one plane into the next was a little bumpier than normal and my body felt…unglued. Not quite whole.

I spread my wings, flexed them like an old, tired muscle, and waited for this form to adjust to being back on my own plane.

As soon as the decision to meet at the Cullen house was made, I cast myself there. I hovered above and around them as they argued over my existence. Because Edward was my ward, I could feel his fear and his confusion. I felt it all boil into a single sentiment—anger. That was nothing new for Edward. Anger was his go-to emotion. It was something he understood, something he could hold on to. And just like humans, he stuck to what was familiar to him.

"Faeries aren't real," the blonde named Rose said.

_Yes they are, you just can't see them,_ I thought, watching them move about the house.

"But a great deal of lore exists for both. Some say the fay are both demon and angel, beauty and sin with wings. Other stories tell of tiny, kind creatures with a penchant for flowers and an allergy to iron." Carlisle stood still with a pensive look on his face.

"_She is beautiful…and the smell…like heaven and hell tied up with bow_," Edward thought.

"So there's a faery flying around Forks?" Rose said, folding her hands over her lap.

"Or an angel," Jasper, the mood shifter, said. "What do we know about angels?"

_Not enough, too much_.

I listened as they rattled off notions, some hitting closer to home than I would have thought possible. Hours soared by and soon the family was readying for their day. Dawn broke through the windows, and I marvelled at the soft shimmer they took on as the light kissed their skin.

Edward pushed through his routine, his mind turning corners and racing after answers.

Alice, Edward, and Jasper rode together, while Emmett and Rosalie rode in a separate vehicle. Moments before class began, I entered the human plane and walked past Edward and Alice on my way to the classroom. His entire body tensed as I glided by. Every muscle coiled, ready to react. I looked over my shoulder and watched Alice's eyes go wide. She was so tiny and her movements were normally very precise, so watching her stumble and fret was almost comical.

I knew what she was seeing.

"_Wings, Edward_," she chanted in her mind. "_She has wings_."

I heard the sharp intake of air and then the thoughts came crashing in. '_Wings. She's a faery. An angel. A demon sent to destroy me.'_ His mind spiralled at such a quick pace that I was having trouble following it. I knew I had to give him answers, he needed them, deserved them. After all, I'd been the one to alter his life so much so that he was no longer human. I spun on my heel and placed my hand on his chest. I only had time to assure Alice he would be safe before we slipped into a lush, dark, and damp forest.

"Where are we?" Edward demanded.

"The forest to the north of the school." I placed my hand back at my side and took a step back.

"How did you do that?"

"You have your powers, vampire, and I have mine," I said cryptically. I walked to a nearby tree, an old one that had fallen long ago, and sat down.

Edward started at me trying to figure out his next move. _'Ask questions? Run?'_

I figured I would help him on his way. "So have you ruled out zombie yet?" I asked, looking to him with a knowing smile.

"Zom—" he stopped mid word "—I've only ever discussed that with my family."

"Yes, and you're wrong. They don't exist." I leaned forward, placing my elbow on my knee and perched my head in my hand.

"You've been listening to our conversations?" But how?" His brow knit together and it took a great deal of self control on my part not to smooth the crease with my fingertips.

"I can see anything, be anywhere, and hear anything in _The Other_," I offered.

"_The Other_? Other what?" He stepped forward moving closer to me.

"Wrong question. Not what. Where?"

"All right, _where_ is _The Other_?" he asked without the least bit of annoyance. He was curious; I could see it in his eyes and in the way he inched forward.

"It's another plane. There are many planes of existence. Science fiction taught you that, but you've yet been able to prove it. _The Other_ is an ethereal plane, a plane just out of sight and seldom heard."

He stepped closer still, and I could smell the minty, cool, and lush scent of his body. My heart quickened.

"When a human claims to have seen a ghost or heard something they couldn't explain, it's often something moving between the planes," I explained.

"And you are from _The Other_?"

"No, but I can move through it. It's how I brought you here."

"Alice said you have wings…"

_Now we're getting to the million dollar question_, I thought. "Yes, I have wings."

"Are you a faery?" he asked, looking sheepish.

I shook my head. "No, but they do exist. They can move through _The Other_ as well. They're tricky little things, though. Always an ulterior motive with them. Don't go looking for them. They're kind of trouble, okay?" I brought my eyes to his again.

He nodded, looking a little dazed. "And they have wings…faeries?"

"Yes. And spites, water nymphs—the lot of them."

"Gnomes?"

I laughed. "Real, but quiet and peaceful. I wouldn't worry about them."

"Gremlins?"

"Steven Spielberg," I said chuckling.

"Aliens?"

"Do you _really_ want to know?"

He looked up at the sky, pondering. "Nope, somethings are better left a mystery. So you have wings, yet are not a Fay?" Edward asked, cocking his head to the side.

"No."

He was silent for a moment, but I could hear the question spinning around his mind. "Are you an angel?"

_Bing. Bing. Bing! Give the man a prize. _

"Yes," I whispered in the wind.

He fell silent again and so still it seemed unnatural. After several moments of contemplation he finally broke from his daze. "As in An Angel of The Lord?"

"One and the same."

"Have you come to kill me?" Edward asked, his expression nearly unreadable.

"No!" I leaped from my spot on the old tree. "I would never…I could never. It's not what I was created for. I am not Death. I am not vengeance!"

_Why would he think this of me_?

"Then why are you here, if not to end me?"His advance had stopped and he had in fact, taken a step back.

"I'm a member of the Guard, Edward. We do not kill. We protect." I softened my voice and slid back a pace. I never wanted him to fear me.

"Guard?" You don't mean Guardian Angel?" he asked, sounding a tad amused.

"Yes. I'm a Guard and you became my ward when you were two years old."

He blinked and readjusted the ever shuffling thoughts in his head. "You said yesterday that I had…that I was familiar with your scent but couldn't remember from where. You were referring to my human years, weren't you?"

"I was," I confirmed in a small voice. "When you were two you nearly drowned. I held you up, kept the water at bay. That was the first time my wings held you. And the first time you would have smelled me. But it wasn't the last."

"I don't remember that," Edward admitted.

I sat back down on my log. "You wouldn't. Fear and youth kept it from you, and then venom washed it away completely."

"How are you responsible for what I am?"

This was the question I feared above all others. Outing myself as an angel was easy work, but telling him my words lead to his current state may very well be the thing that drives him away from me forever.

* * *

**End Notes**: Angel wins the pool. LOL.

So I've recently taken on administrative duties at teeny site called Twi & VD Fic Recs. Well we're turning it on its ass and making some major changes. When it's all pretty and ready to unveil it'll be called **The Other Realm Fic Recs**. Our focus will be recs from fandoms that had a supernatural undertones in their original state, but so not needed here. As is stands we'll be accepting rec's from **Twilight, Supernatural, and Vampire Diaries**. AU, AH, HEA, full on horror, it's all good!

What fandoms would like to see us include? What features would attract you most?


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N:** SM owns it, I just gave it wings. Hehe.

Hey there, lovelies! Wanna follow me on Twitter? We'll chat, send inappropriate links to each other, and maybe get a heads up on updates, if I'm really on the ball. **JanuarysFiction **~ that's me. Oh, also, I'm a chocolate whore, send me chocolate!

* * *

_**Chapter 5**_

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

I stood in awe of this creature in front of me. Esme was right. We were naive to think the world was so small. It was huge and wondrous and the proof was right here in front of me. An angel.

"I was hoping you weren't going to ask me that question." She looked worried, shy even.

"I won't harm you," I said, trying to reassure her.

She lifted her head and gave me a small smile. "You can't, not really. Immortal-ish. Like you, Angels are hard to kill."

"Oh," I said, sounding stupid.

She sighed heavily, laced her fingers together, and then locked eyes with the forest floor. It seemed she was not really keen on telling me this story. "Your mother, Elizabeth Masen, was dying. Your father had already perished. I watched you grow sicker and sicker, and I couldn't take it." She paused and looked up from her seat.

"The fever was going to take you too, Edward. I was selfish, so selfish. I couldn't let that happen to you." Her words were fast and her brown eyes began to weep. She looked utterly confused and awed all at once as she wiped the salty tears from her face.

_Has she never shed a tear before_?

"Late that night, I whispered in your mother's ear. I told her how she could save you, what Carlisle could do." Her sobs came harder and her face was streaked with new tears.

I couldn't fault her for wanting to save someone. Surely that was part of her very nature. What I didn't understand was _why me_.

Her eyes raked over my face. She must have heard my thoughts.

"I couldn't bear the thought of it. I…cared too much."

"Did you understand what I would become, Isabella?"

"Yes. I knew. I knew that you would be like Carlisle—good."

"And what if I wasn't? What if I killed for the sheer pleasure of it?"

Without a seconds hesitation she answered, "I would have ended you."

"You said you don't have the power to do that."

"No, but I can bend time. Those planes I spoke of…time moves differently in some. Folds easier. If you are divine, like me, you can shift it, move through the planes and back. It would have caused something along the lines of an aneurysm for me, but I would have pulled back time and remained still and silent as you died."

I was suddenly respectfully frightened of this creature. She obviously held a great deal of power.

"Please don't be afraid of me," she begged. When she looked up again, her features were broken, hurt, and I couldn't bear it. Something about her was honest and vulnerable, and I desperately wanted to keep her safe.

Curiosity picked at me again. "Do all angels show themselves to their charges?" I was pretty sure I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it.

"No," she confirmed, "it's not common practice."

"Then why did you reveal yourself to me, Isabella?"

She blushed a beautiful shade of rose, and her mouth tried to form the words several times before she blurted out, "Because I'm selfish!"

There was something she wasn't telling me, something she left out.

"Yes, much like you leaving that bit out about my scent," she snapped, answering my thoughts.

Being a vampire, I had no blood to rush to my face when I was overwhelmed by embarrassment, but I could certainly avert my eyes. An act she did not miss.

A slow grin crept across her face.

"Why can't I hear your thoughts, but you can hear mine?"I decided on a change of subject. No way was I getting into a conversation with an angel about the sinful smell of her body and the naughty thoughts it conjured up. Nope.

"My voice, my true voice, would likely shatter your skull."

"Okay." I let that sink in. "But why can you hear me?"

"All Guards can hear the thoughts of their wards. It's a handy tool to have in your back pocket."

I supposed that would be convenient for a Guardian Angel, particularly if their ward was a little on the Evil Knevil side.

I slowly made my way towards her and sank to the ground beside the tree she'd planted herself on. So many questions, so many things I wanted to know, to understand. Here was this divine being next to me, playing the role of the proverbial open book. "Did you choose that body or is that what you truly look like, a seventeen year old?"

She laughed, and it was a nervous sound. "I did. I was going for unassuming, average. But I suppose I look similar to my true form if you take away the ethereal qualities."

"You mean the glowing eye balls?" I said, pointing to the deep brown orbs.

"Yeah those. Actually in my human form, they're far less…luminescent. A little less light bulb looking. Oh, and I don't have freckles. That's an anomaly you know, like two different coloured eyes. Not supposed to happen. But I always loved them."

I studied her face, her very human face, and marvelled at how beautiful those tiny mistakes were. Light cinnamon coloured spots dotted her nose and cheeks. She was magnificent.

An angel in Forks, who would have thought it?

_~IV~_

We'd travelled her way once already today, and in all honesty it was a bit disorienting. Jumping through time and space was not something a corporal being—immortal or otherwise— should do on a regular basis. So when Isabella suggested we go speak with my family, put them at ease, I didn't exactly jump for joy.

She was about to place her tiny, but mighty, hand on me again when I suggested we run. She grinned and nodded.

"I don't suppose your list of superpowers includes running at ridiculously high speeds?" I asked.

"No, but I can bring animals back to life."

"Really?" I said, completely intrigued.

She chuckled. "No just plants." She flashed me a silly, toothy grin.

"Well hop on, Green Thumb." I knelt down, allowing her to climb on to my back. For a small girl, her weight was more than I had anticipated.

"It's my wings," she said, answering my thought.

"Emmett's going to be so disappointed," I said as she secured her arms around my neck.

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**End Notes:** This chapter was brought to you by the song **Uninvited** by _Alanis Morissette_ and the letter **J**.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: I gave Isabella wings, but SM created her. I own nothing.

**A/N:** So there's a tiny bit of babble about religion in this chapter. Nothing said is meant to be offensive (well unless you're a Westboro groupie). So before you flame me, please remember that this is just a story, not a soapbox or an altar to lecture from.

**Maxipoo1024** is my fuck-awesome beta, she's a great teacher and thanks to her my chapters aren't so messy any more.

You can follow me on Twitter ** JanuarysFiction**

And on with the show...

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_**Chapter 6**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

"You brought a zombie home?" Emmett screeched.

"Emmett, she is clearly not a zombie. Give it a rest!" Rose shouted from somewhere on the second floor of the Cullen home.

I'd seen the home, and the others before it, while Guarding Edward. It never seemed real, tangible. Everything gets filtered through a thin film when looking through the seams from one plane to the next. And though, technically _The Other_ existed tucked inside the human plane, things always looked a tad…off. Colours appeared washed out and things often looked gritty. All eyes on me, I walked around the main floor and touched and smelled everything in the room.

"This your first trip to Earth, Angel?" Rose said, aiming for a joke but landing on snark.

"No. Not by a long shot. I've been around longer than you've been pulling on Earth's gravity." That put her in her place.

I explained about the film that coated my vision. "Everything looks new, sharper," I babbled as I grazed my fingers over a crystal vase.

Carlisle was the first to step forward and welcome me. He was also the first to voice his concerns regarding my sudden appearance. "Understand, Isabella, our family has gone to great lengths to keep the Volturi off our scent. We are not typical vampires and that often makes us a target," he explained, looking very serious.

"Edward must have adopted that look from you. His own father never mastered the brooding, thoughtful-intellect look. Not that he wasn't intelligent," I said, trying to dig myself out the hole my mouth just dug. I looked to Edward. "He just didn't brood well."

I stared at the lovely gothic art work on the wall in front of me for a moment. It was so romantic and rich; the colours pulled me forward a step.

"Carlisle, I promise you I want nothing but peace for your family. And if you think I'm here for payment of any past indiscretions, you couldn't be more wrong. I have no intention of harming anyone. You can call off the hit men now," I said with a reassuring smile, still studying the art work.

"So there's no apocalypse and no big bad out to get Edward?" Emmett asked with a hint of a pout pulling at his lips.

"No apocalypse, no big bad. Sorry."

Poor Emmett looked like the boy who lost his favourite toy. He really should stop reading those comic books. It had corrupted his brain.

From the corner of the room, a small shaky voice asked, "My son…is he…?"

"I don't know much about your boy, Esme. I was not his Guard. One so young often isn't assigned a Guard yet. If you want to know if he is safe, I can tell you that he is. Always was."

Had she tears they would have been free flowing.

"So you don't have a direct link then?" Alice asked, curious as ever.

"To who? _God_? No. Few of us do, certainly not the Guards." The popular notion was that all divine creatures were linked to a God. Not so.

"God exists? Who has it right? The Catholics, the Muslims, maybe the Creeds?" Jasper seemed like he might bounce off the wall. I could see the excitement in his wide, yellow eyes.

I sat down on a white sofa and thought of how to phrase it. "It's not about who has it right, who has it wrong. There are many notions and just as many '_Gods,_' if you will. Everyone is so desperate to believe that their religion is the _only_ true Faith, the one that will save them, when in actuality it's not the act of worship that that'll get you the keys to heaven…it's belief."

They all looked perplexed, and I thought it was awfully amusing.

"Belief, faith in something bigger than you. That's all…well, being a decent person can't hurt either. Organized religion won't bring you closer to your God," I said, hoping they understood what I was trying to convey.

"Satanists have faith, so do those fuck crazy Westboro people for that matter," Jasper argued, but it was all in good humour.

"True, but using hate as a weapon kinda of destroys that _decent person_ status. Don't you think?"

Looking around the room, I noticed that all of the vampires had gravitated towards me, and I smiled. "You know, it's a funny thing…vampires are made to lure their prey. You pull them in with your smell and appearance, but as humans evolved they've taken on a natural aversion to you. There's a kind of fear that's inherent in them, and they pay attention to it, mostly. Guards are much the same," I explained, running my hand through my hair. "We draw people—and apparently vampires—in. But unlike you, there is no fear, just a strange sense of awe."

They looked around at each other, realizing how they'd all begun to crowd around me, no doubt feeling that awe and curious need to be near. Edward, it seemed, was the most affected. I kept a close eye as his fingers twitched and he worked to control them. I listened as he reminded himself why it might not be okay to put his hands on me.

His mind was vivid: his fingers traced my arm, my neck, across my collarbone, lingering on my throat. The pictures he conjured were so complete I could almost feel his cold hands on me. A quick blush rose on my face, and I had to look away from him. He connected the dots pretty quickly and apologized silently, taking a few steps back.

Embarrassment was new to me, so was the warmth blooming in my stomach. I shook my head and tried to clear it.

For someone who seemed so self-absorbed, Rose was rather observant. She shot me a quick, but knowing, glance.

"How come I didn't see you before?" Alice asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Other realm," I said in a matter of fact way. "You can't see creatures from, or moving through, _The Other_. I imagine your head might explode if you had that kind of insight, Alice. The curtain that separates_ that_ world from yours is there for a reason. Somethings aren't meant to be seen."

"Like _The Mist_?" Emmett piped up, looking rather proud.

"Um, I'm sorry, Emmett, I don't follow," I said, shaking my head.

Emmett launched into a description of a movie about scientists that found away to drop the veil between the two dimensions. He babbled about crazy people, and giant creatures, and a "creepy ass mist" that covered the town. "The creatures weren't bad, they just weren't meant to be _here_," he finished, smiling and nodding at a job well done.

"Exactly," I said and offered him a kind smile. I liked Emmett; his cheerful and sometimes childlike disposition was refreshing.

Alice moved to sit closer to me, shooting Edward a cautious look. I didn't understand the look at all, nor did I understand why her tiny frame took on a protective air. Surely, she didn't still believe I was a danger to them?

My eyes moved around the room and landed on Edward. _She thinks I might hurt you_, he thought. _That I'm not in control_. He showed me what I can only assume was a vision: Edward covered in blood, Jasper and Emmett pulling him into the forest away from the house.

_I smell that good, huh?_ I wasn't all too concerned about Edward hurting me. Angels were hard to kill, and bloodletting certainly wouldn't do the trick. I side eyed the dark haired woman beside me, letting her know her concern wasn't necessary.

"How come I could see your wings before?" Alice asked in an effort to erase the odd silence that had fallen over the room. Her gentle, topaz eyes searched the space around me for traces of my feathered appendages.

"You didn't see my wings. You saw what I wanted you to."

"Like an illusion?" she pondered, her small face wrinkling with curiosity.

"Something like that."

"So you can plant thoughts in our minds?" Carlisle asked and his brow rose in question.

"Yes, but it takes a great deal of energy to do, so it's not something I practice often." I reserved that skill for charges that were either a particular brand of stupid or so distraught and desperate that reason was beyond them. Pushing thoughts and ideas into someone's mind felt intrusive and wrong. Their mind was their own and opening it wide like that was not without risk.

"Then you don't have wings?" Emmett looked so saddened by that prospect that it made me giggle.

"I do, but they aren't visible on this plane. Their matter is different. Strong, strong enough to hold you up, but they are not solid here, not in a way that makes them visible. What I showed Alice was what I look like with my wings unfurled the way they would appear in _The Other_."

"So you can fly?" Emmett's excitement was suddenly renewed.

"Not in the way that I'm sure you're thinking. I don't flutter around, flapping like a bird. My wings are like a mode of transportation. If I need to be somewhere, I think of that place and my wings take me there very quickly."

Emmett seemed pleased with that answer and moved to sit on the sofa closest to him. The leather made a squeal of protest and his muscular, impervious body flopped down.

I always thought that sounds furniture made was comical. Chairs creaked like sour old women, couches huffed in exasperation, and stools whined against smooth surfaces like overtired children. It all sounded like complaints of misuse to me. Griping.

"Do you have more than one ward?" Edward asked, looking everywhere but my face.

"I do. I have two right now. You, and a little girl named Dara. She's a sweet little thing, but her parents are lacking. I've been with her since her third birthday when she was forgotten at home. Someone had to look after her."

"I'm curious how that's decided. How do you receive a…a job, I suppose?" Esme asked, stepping a little closer.

"I'm not sure how it works. I don't get a file or a start date. I get a _feeling_, a pull to a person, and I follow that pull. It normally happens when someone's in need. Like you in the water." I looked to Edward and then continued. "Once I've been…drawn to a person I'm with them until the end," I finished and placed my hands in my lap.

"Are you with them when they die?" Esme wondered, looking far away.

"Yes, at least until a Psychochomp comes for them." I explained the role of the Psychochomp, that there was in fact more than one '_Angel of Death_.' "Reapers, if you will, take the soul to their next stop on the tour."

"How many?" Jasper asked.

"How many what? Psychochomps, or charges I've had?" I asked

"Charges."

"In my 430 years I've had 37, which sounds like such a small number compared to my years, but some lived to ninety-seven and passed away healthy, happy, and surrounded by family. Others didn't make it to their third birthday. I've had brief periods when Edward was my only obligation, but we're never given more than two at a time."

We spoke until the wee hours of the morning, until my eyes fluttered and a yawn ripped through my suddenly exhausted body.

"I've never felt so heavy and…"

"Sleepy," Carlisle offered. I nodded. "The body you're in is essentially human and at four in the morning, most humans are sleeping."

"Like your sense of taste," Edward said. "You'd said that the longer you spend here, the more your senses awaken, sharpen."

"Pinocchio," Rose said softly.

We all turned to her, a little confused.

"The marionette that became a real boy," she explained.

Edward's eyes shot to me. "You're becoming human?"

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**End Notes: So for some of you this chapter answered a lot of questions, for others, it just created more and I love hearing your speculations. Some of you have been spot on, gold sticker for you. **

**I need to say a big thank you to my Frequent Flyers: Those of you that review every chapter. Because of those amazing reviews, In Venam hit the 100 reviews mark before posting chapter 5. I know for some of the writers out there, that's some small spuds, but I'm BLOWN AWAY! Your fic love makes me weepy, and you all deserve sloppy kisses and inappropriate touches. THANK YOU! **

_**~Jen**_


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: I own the wings, but SM owns the sparkly vamps, so really I got nothing.**

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_**Chapter 7**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

My return to _The Other,_ after four in the morning, was rocky to say the least. I felt stretched and sore. As I unfurled my wings for the first time in hours, I groaned. Ache wasn't something my body was used to at all. I flexed my wings and decided on a quick peek at Dara.

Dara lay asleep, curled into herself, light purple sheets pulled tightly around her. Her small heart beat with regular, strong thumps, and her eyes shifted under their tender pink lids. I wondered what she was dreaming of, if her dreams were sweet and simple. I hoped like hell that the stress of her home life hadn't encroached upon her dreams. I sat in the rocking chair watching her sleep and listened to the muffled sounds of her parents arguing a few rooms over. I closed my eyes and let my sore body relax. Guards didn't require sleep, much like vampires. It just wasn't necessary. However, angels were never meant to walk the human plane. We simply weren't built for it, and today's stint did a number on me.

I contemplated the world around me and the sheer comfort that being firmly planted back in _The Other_ brought me. I thought about the gentle ache that still radiated out to the very tips of my wings, and I wondered about other changes that would surely come the longer I walked as a human.

Did I want that? Did I want my wings to fade, leaving me without gifts, without immortality?

Dara shifted in her sleep and let out a soft sigh. I smiled at her seemingly contented sound, pleased that peace had found her tonight. Watching the tiny girl sleep brought on thoughts of fate, choice, and the future. Dara had no say in the parents she was born to. No one asked her if she would be able to handle what was being served up to her. _Fair_ was not a word I would attribute to the little girl's life.

Choice, free will, was a simple enough concept but much more difficult in practice. Should I stay or should I go? Coffee or tea? Lie and make a person happy or tell the truth and destroy a life?

Suddenly, I felt selfish having forced myself into Edward's life. I may have spent years wanting him, knowing I wanted to be a part of his life, but did _he_ want to be a part of _mine? _I hadn't stopped to consider what Edward might want before I thrust my angelic ass on him.

Right then, I decided that my involvement in his world would be _his _choice. If he so wished it, I would park my feathered ass in _The Other_ and never bother him again.

The thought of him not wanting me caused my barely beating heart to squeeze painfully. I grimaced and placed my hand over my heart as if I could put a stop to the sensation. I'd heard the expressions "my heart aches" and "it breaks my heart" many times, but never before had I experienced it. The very thought of a life without Edward in it—because he so desired it—made my heart _hurt_.

_**~IV~**_

Dawn broke, and aside from my close encounter with human emotion, I felt good. The stiffness had left my body, and I felt energized. I stood and spread my wings, feeling them flex. I kissed the sleeping child on the forehead and told her that I would always keep her safe, to which she replied in a dreamy voice, "Thank you." Her eyes fluttered and she sucked her thumb into her mouth.

I closed my eyes and let my wings take me to Edward. The moment I found him, his eyes lifted from the book he was reading as if he could feel my presences in the air around him. Seconds later, he was back to the words on the page. I pulled myself back, giving him space.

It was easy to get lost in _The Other. _To sit for hours, days even, and watch the world around you. Humans often enjoyed people watching—the art of observation. People watching in this plane was more like an Olympic event than just the simple time killer it was in the human plane. Imagine faeries with features so beautiful it was difficult to look away or a soul free floating. It was easy to get distracted here, and in a quick blink, the day had wasted away and evening was settling in.

I watched as the Cullen's slowly trickled in from school.

"Maybe she was busy with her other ward. It's not all about you, Edward," Rose said, flinging her golden hair over her shoulder.

Edward just gave her the stink eye and thumped off to his room. For a moment he stood there, as if he were half expecting me to be there. He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on the couch. "I know you're here, Isabella," he spoke to the room. "I can feel you."

_Feel me_? Pardon?

Now, I'd never shown myself to anyone like I had Edward, but I was fairly certain this shit was not normal. Children often saw their angels. People with autism, and not uncommonly, those with mental health disorders spotted an angel or two. But Edward was none of those things, and before now, he'd never indicated that he felt me nearby.

"Why weren't you at school?" he continued, knowing I was listening.

I took a step through the film that divided our worlds and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You weren't in class," he said as he turned to face me.

"I got distracted." I shrugged.

"By what?" His eyes roamed my face.

"Pretty shiny things."

"An angel with ADD?" His lips pulled up in a smile.

"Something like that."

He took a few steps back, and I moved to sit on the couch.

"I've been a little…inconsiderate," I blurted out.

"Of what?"

"You."

He cocked his head to the side and gave me an expectant look.

So I filled in the blanks. "I just _popped_ into your world and expected you to be okay with it." I watched his face as I spoke. "That was wrong," I started, waiting for him to acknowledge what I'd said, but he just tipped his head further.

"I shouldn't be here if you don't want me here."

Edward took a quick step forward and then stopped. "Why wouldn't I want you here?" He sounded absolutely baffled.

"I didn't give you a choice. I just dropped myself into your life, weirdo-mind reading, halogen-eyed angel." I shook my head. "I'm sorry." I looked down at the white plush carpeting and again, waited for him to speak.

Slowly, cautiously, he stepped towards me. "Don't apologize, Isabella."

"If you want me to go…"

"No. Stay."

And once again my heart ached, but in an entirely different way. I very much liked this ache. Edward sat down next to me. His mind raced with questions. I gave him a soft smile. "Go ahead," I prompted, resigning myself to another late night as he launched into a barrage of questions. No doubt I was going to pay of this, already feeling the ache setting into my wings.

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**End Notes: So he's going to keep his angel. And I know it was short, ya'll can wag your fingers at me if you feel the need. I promise there are chapters coming up that are longer. **

**Rec Time****: **_**Songs of Our Lives**_** by ****luvtwilight4eva****. **I don't often rec something that I beta but this story deserves a little push. The story was inspired by the author's parent's lives and is loosely based on their experiences. It spans decades, decades of moments that define and change who we are, and what we'll become. Songs string together the lives of Isabella and Edward, but it's not all roses. It's honest and full of life and that life is fucking bumpy. Yes there's a cheaterward in here and character death, and the writing is raw as hell, but I think it's more about the moments.

**Dark Paradise** by **darkNnerdy **Is now complete at 8 chapters. This...this, I fucking loved. It's covered in blood and oozing with want and bad things. Features a twisted Dexterward, so it isn't warm and cozy. If you're looking for fluff, turn around and run, this ain't it. But gawd it's a great read. So if it's your thing, go on over and leave her some inappropriate love. Tell her MissJanuary says "Hi, Cunty!"

**_~MissJanuary_**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Please don't put me in handcuffs, I didn't steal anything, I just fucked around with it. No infringement intended.**

**Hugs are owed to those of you pimping this fic. You rock! **

**I'm on Twitter and I'm sometimes entertaining, but mostly I just talk to myself. Feel free to follow me JanuarysFiction. **

**Oh and also this chapter flips POV's so pay attention lovelies. **

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_**Chapter 8**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

"You have to try this," Alice declared, "it's better than sex!"

"I don't know…the way you humans go on about it, I doubt much trumps it," I said with a smile as Alice placed a small square of chocolate in the palm of my hand.

"You've…" Her face looked both confused and embarrassed.

"Nope. It's not against the rules or anything. Just had no interest in it." The idea that angels were sexless creatures was inaccurate. Moreover, the notion that premarital sex was some kind of grand sin was also…inaccurate. Humans on high horses set that motion. Our bodies had always been ours to do with what we will, so long as no harm came from it. Depending on the religion and dogma, anything, and nearly everything, under the sun could be sinful: alcohol, swearing, gambling, and creative expression were all on someone's naughty list.

"No interest in 430 years?" she stammered.

"None, now shut it, pixie, and let me enjoy this." I placed it in my mouth and it immediately began to melt. Over the last few days my sense of taste had heightened, and Esme and Alice delighted in pushing new foods on me. I found that I very much liked cheesecake and strawberries but could do without spinach and olives.

The creamy chocolate melted away and left my tongue coated. I moaned, enjoying the taste of the milk chocolate. "Oh sweet sunshine, Alice, this is fucking wonderful!"

"_Alice introduced you to Hershey's chocolates?" _Edward's voice slipped into my mind, and I turned to see him walking toward us, a lunch tray decorated with props in his hands.

"Yup, and they're divine!" I said as I let the last of the chocolate slide down my throat.

"Is that, like, blasphemy coming from an angel?" Jasper said, sliding in next to his tiny wife.

I snickered. "Might be."

Edward sat across from me; he seemed to be rather content watching me eat. He would smile when my face soured and laughed when I spit something out. But when I truly enjoyed something, the way I was the chocolate square, his face took on a soft, reverent look.

"Here." Alice pushed a small bag full of the supposedly-better-than-sex treats at me. "It was my favourite before I was turned. They were extremely expensive and considered a luxury. He used to sneak them into my room…" Her voice slipped away. Alice had explained to me that her life before becoming immortal was spotty at best. She held only a handful of blurry memories and those chocolate balls were one of them.

"Mmm." I eyed the bag with greed.

"Go for it." Edward nodded towards the bag sitting on the table in front of me, an amused smile played on his face.

I broke off another square and popped it into my mouth, sighing in appreciation. I licked my lips and looked down at the wrapper. I fully understood gluttony now, but surely too much chocolate was no sin at all. In fact, the more the better.

_The world's problems could be solved with this stuff. And better than sex? _My inner musing was interrupted by the sound of a low, slow growl.

I looked up into eyes dark as pitch. Alice and Jasper were looking at Edward, studying him really.

_Funny, but I'm sure his eyes were a deep yellow just moments ago. _

Edward shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and quickly left the table without so much as a word. I looked to his adoptive siblings for answers. What I found was more questions. Alice's features were twisted with concern and Jasper was clearly amused by his brother's behaviour. But why?

I cocked my head to the side and said, "That was odd."

A grin cracked Jasper's lips. "Odd is a good word. Intriguing is another." Alice swatted at him and looked in the direction that Edward had stormed off.

"He's just…nervous," she explained.

Jasper stifled a chuckle and said, "Nervous? No, darlin', that is_ not_ the word I would use to describe him."

I couldn't put a proper name to the emotion I was feeling, but I didn't like it. "What is this, Jazz? I don't know that I've ever felt this before." I pushed my emotion towards him, allowing him to taste it.

"It's what being out of the loop feels like. Confusion and uncertainty mixed up with a healthy shot of paranoia."

I scowled at them both. "What aren't you saying?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the wee vampire to my left.

Alice pursed her pink painted lips and dropped her eyes to the still wrapped turkey sandwich. "It's nothing, Isabella." She didn't look me in the eye when she said that, and it didn't give me much confidence.

My fingernails drummed on the pressed wood surface, and my eyes fixed on her down cast face. "I'm a divine fucking being, Alice Whitlock, don't you lie to me."

Jasper barked out a short laugh. "Oh for Christ's sake, what's the big deal?"

"Jazz…" Alice warned.

"He's turned on, angel girl. The chocolate, the moaning…" Jasper said with a sly smile. Alice smacked his arm and made a sound like disgust.

I didn't understand what Jazz was trying to tell me. Turned on? My brain flashed with pictures of light bulbs flickering to life, TV screens lighting up. Energy.

"Um?" My nose wrinkled and I felt lines crease my forehead.

"Turned on…excited," Jazz explained, "like this—" He pushed the still fairly new to me emotion on me, and when understanding kicked in, my slow moving heart beat faster. I felt my cheeks warm, and I touched my fingers to my face.

"Oh," I said, relating Edward's emotion to the desire I'd felt for him. "I did that?"

"Apparently," Jasper said, shrugging. "Don't worry about it, angel, if anyone can suppress overwhelming desire, it's Edward."

"What did we miss?" Emmett asked, dropping his heavy body into the chair to my right. Rose sat across from me.

"Isabella just learned what the phrase 'turned on' means," Jasper offered with an overly sweet smile.

"You got the hots for someone, wings?" Emmett called me that, wings. It made me smile, like he was including me some kind of inner circle. Friendship, though a concept I was familiar with, wasn't something I'd experienced until now. I enjoyed the feeling of being cared for and cared about by another. It felt good.

"No, Emmett, I don't have the hots for anyone." It felt like a lie as soon as it left my mouth, and that lie made me uncomfortable. I shifted in my seat, suddenly feeling the need to fidget. I looked across the table, and Rose's eyes caught mine. Her brow arched and her head tilted. She saw right through me.

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

She devoured another chocolate, and I about lost my shit for the first time in my not-so-short vampire life. I felt the excitement building in me, and I knew I had to leave that cafeteria before I was struck down for thinking about Isabella.

"She's an angel! An actual living, breathing, _gorgeous _angel and _you're_ a depraved man!" I grumbled, moving through the woods. I could only hope that I made it out of there before my thoughts reached her. "She would have smote where I stood…had she the power."

Images of Isabella thoroughly enjoying the treat Alice gave her jumped to mind. In an instant, pictures of her flipped in rapid session. Pictures of her licking her fingers clean, her eyes closed, and a look of pure indulgence on her face.

I ran faster.

My fingers in her mouth and a wicked grin stretching her lips.

The last image stopped me dead in my tracks. Isabella on her knees in front of me, her wings spread around her. My erection grew, pushing almost painfully against my jeans.

"I'm going to hell," I whispered to the damp forest.

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

I tuned out the people around me and just felt. I let my mind wander and find Edward. I felt his confusion, his shame, but more than anything I felt his desire. It was practically neon, hard to miss. Though I _had_. I'd missed it all. _Why_?

"…for a hundred and something year old virgin." Emmett's voice cut through my thoughts and pulled me back to the table in the cafeteria.

"You can stop talking now, Emmett." I stood and pushed away from the lunch table.

"Shit, sorry, wings. I didn't mean to offend you." His baby face looked apologetic.

"Hard to offend someone that wasn't paying attention." I shrugged my shoulders and looked north, knowing that was where he was.

Emmett placed a hand over his still heart, put on his best wounded vampire look, and said, "You're cold, wings. Cold."

"No, I'm leaving. Alice, save the chocolate." I spared the red wrapped balls of bliss a wistful look, winked at Em, and then took off after Edward.

Once I was outside the cafeteria, away from human eyes, I crossed through the film and let my wings take me to him. I found him in a meadow surrounded by flowers and tall grass. He was lying on his back, staring at the sky and looking for all the world like lost little boy.

"You're kind of a stalker," he whispered, knowing full well I was close by.

Again, I pushed myself through the curtain that divided our plans, ignoring the rough transition, I walked toward him.

"Hmm, I don't think so. Stalker implies bad intentions; I'm a fucking angel, Edward. We're innately good," I said in a candy sweet tone. I sat next to him on the damp ground and crossed my legs.

He chuckled and shook his head. "An angel who drops the f-bomb and moans like she's getting paid." His eyes never left the grey washed sky.

"Getting paid…" _Paid for what_?

"I'm sorry, that was out of line. Forgive me…smote me, either way," he said, turning his face to me.

"I'll forgive you if you tell me what you meant." Though I'd been around humans for a very long time, I didn't always listen to the things they said. Often, I just observed, like watching TV with no sound. It was easy to get confused.

Quickly, his eyes left mine and raced towards the sky again. Embarrassment welled up in him. "The chocolate, the sounds you—" He shook his head. "I've just bought a one way, first class ticket to hell."

"Why would you say that?" And then my pea brain began to put it together.

"_Better than sex…the chocolate, the sounds…"_

"Edward Anthony Mansen! You called me a prostitute! Me, an angel. First class ticket indeed!" I tried to keep my voice stern and full of shock but a giggle slipped out.

He sat up in a flash. "I'm so sorry, Isabella. I didn't—"

"Stop it, Edward. Along with the bad mouth and, ah, _questionable_ sounds, I also have a sense of humour. Calling a divine being a street walker, that's funny."

"No, I wasn't implying that you—"

"I said shut up, Edward. I know you were referring to the noises I made, not me. It's fine and no one's going to hell. Relax."

"I shouldn't be thinking about you or _anyone_ like that." Shame was etched onto his beautiful face and this time I couldn't help but smooth the lines. My fingertips trembled as I caressed the worried faults above his eyes.

"Like what?" I asked, meeting his eyes.

At first he said nothing, just stared at me, his eyes pleading with me to understand. And I did. I just wanted to hear him say it out loud.

I softened my voice, encouraging him. "Like what, Edward?" My fingers continued to explore his face, marvelling at it all.

"Like you're something to have," he answered in a pained voice.

"And having me is wrong?"

"_Wanting _you is wrong!" His voice was breathy as he took my hand in his. His cold fingers laced with mine, and my whole body came alive.

"Is that why you left the cafeteria? Because you wanted me?" Suddenly, my mouth was dry, and I had the urge to look away. I knew what it was…nervousness. Edward's pending answer made me nervous.

"Yes." Pictures flashed into his mind. My fingers in my mouth, Alice arranging flowers, his fingers in my mouth, the Declaration of Independence; he was trying to keep the thoughts at bay and doing a piss poor job of it. I gasped when the next image came forward. Through his eyes, I watched my lips wrap around him. Maybe my wings were a little twisted, lord help me, but I liked it. Unable to control myself, I leaned forward and touched my lips to his. He pulled in a sharp breath, but held very still.

"Just let me try…" I mumbled against Edward's marble lips. Tentatively, I pressed my mouth to his, hoping for a better reaction than vampire gone into shock. For a split second he remained still and then sighed, letting go, giving in. Edward's mouth moved with mine. Warm on cold, fire and ice, burning and soothing—it felt incredible. Everything inside of me shifted, and I tingled in a very different way from anything I'd known before. Yes, parts of me were definitely tingling.

As our kiss grew more intense, more confident, so did the tingling. It was an oddly pleasant sensation, but a demanding one. I moved closer to him, seeking, searching blinding for something. It was as if I was on autopilot, my body knew what it needed and I just let it take control.

"Isabella,' he moaned, reaching for my waist to draw me closer.

"Ed—Dara!"

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**End Notes: For those of you asking for a longer chapter... that one was longer, by like 800 words or so :P The next is longer still. Thanks for reading folks, drop me a line and let me know what you're thinking, **

_**~MissJanuary**_


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: SM and I don't even hang out, I just like to mess with her stuff. So no infringement intended my friends. **

**This chapter's a little sensitive, might be triggers, so heads up people.**

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_**Chapter 9**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

In the blink of an eye, I flew towards Dara, the sound of her sobs calling me forward. She sat slumped in a heap of orange and purple. Her mother lay unconscious on the grey title floor, blood gathering around her head.

"Mommy," Dara cried, poking her mother's shoulder with her tiny finger. "Please, Mommy."

The sound of the front door slamming followed by the screech of tires racing away from the house told me that this little girl was alone and likely witnessed whatever atrocity occurred here. Katherine, Dara's mother, though bleeding profusely, was not dead. Not yet. I knelt beside the terrified child and bent my head to her ear. "You need to go next door to the neighbours, Dara. Get help."

She shook her head, scared beyond reason. I contemplated showing myself, but something inside of me knew that would not bode well for Dara's still forming and fragile mind. I tried again. "Dara, please listen. You need to go to the neighbours. Mommy is sick. She needs your help." Her finger dipped into the growing pool of blood, absently tracing the groove in the slick tile. I could feel Katherine slipping away, and I made a split second decision. I moved to the first floor of the house, leaving Dara and a near death Katherine with another Guard—who seemed to be just laying in wait. I pushed through the thin veil again and grabbed the phone off the kitchen table.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" a calm voice asked.

"A woman's been hurt. I think there's a child in the house too." I worked my voice into a fake panic, but inside I was calm, clear, and centred—if only a little peeved with Katherine's Guard. This was my job, what I was built to do. I quickly relayed the address to the emergency dispatcher and hung up before she had the opportunity to ask any more questions.

"Help is on the way, baby girl," I whispered, hoping her delicate mind hadn't yet broken.

Sirens slowly filtered through the sound of Dara's steady sobs. The whirring call of the ambulance grew louder and drowned out the worried cries of the dark haired girl at my side.

"Hello? EMTs…who called?" a strong male voice called out, and Dara flinched.

I wrapped my wings around her and held tight.

_**~IV~**_

The moment I knew Dara was safe, I closed my eyes and focused on Edward.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, kneeling next to the couch he sat on.

He closed the book he was reading, placed it on the table beside him, and swung his legs over the side of the couch. "Is the girl okay?" he asked, leaning towards me.

"Yes. She will be. Her mother's in a coma, swollen and bruised. Her Guard is near, as is a Psychochomp. Katherine's not expected to make it," I told him.

He studied my face. "You seem completely at ease. This didn't ruffle your feathers in the slightest, did it?"

"No. I was made for this, Edward. Literally."

"Yet it bothered you when I was sick." He hit on a nerve, and he knew it. "Why was I so different, Isabella?"

"Damn it," I mumbled, standing up.

"Answer me, Isabella."

I paced the floor and Edward's dark yellow eyes followed my every move.

"Isabel—"

"I heard you! Don't you _Isabella_ me, Edward Masen!" I huffed, frustrated.

A tiny chuckle caught my attention. Spinning towards him with my hands on my hips, I shot Edward a quick warning glance. "Why didn't you tell them about my scent?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Don't change the subject."

"I'm not. Humour me, vampire."

He leaned back and pushed his long legs out in front of him. "Because…I didn't think it was relevant."

"Bullshit. Lying to an angel…not nice, Edward. You forget that I can hear your thoughts." I wagged my finger at him. "You didn't tell them because it felt intimate and that scared you. You're drawn to me. My scent does crazy things to you."

"Yes," he finally admitted, "but what does that have to do with anything?" There was a hint of annoyance in his tone that I did not miss.

"Did you think that was a one way street?" I looked into eyes that once gleamed like emeralds. The immortal planted on the stark white couch looked utterly perplexed, and it made me chuckle. "You were different because I felt things for you I shouldn't have. Being near you, guarding you all these years was like this perfect, beautiful little cage. I could do my job just fine from the cage, and for a long time just knowing that you were safe was enough for me," I tried to explain. "But that pull to be with you, to have you…it was too much. I needed out of the cage, and it scared me because I'd never known anything but."

"So you've Fallen?" he said after more than a few silent and heavy moments.

"No, not yet. Falling is a choice. We have to choose to leave our wings and let our divinity fade. I haven't made that choice yet," I clarified.

"Then why are your gifts faltering? In the cafeteria you had no idea…"

_Valid point. _

"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with the amount of time I spend on this plane. We're not meant to dwell here long."

"If you choose to Fall…"—_for me, _he added silently— "you would lose your powers?"

"Yes. The ability to travel the way I do, the mind reading, sensing your emotions, those are all divine gifts, and when I cease to _be _divine…" I let my voice trickle off.

"You'll be mortal."

"Yes."

"Mortals have short life spans. Shelf life is horrible," he joked.

He didn't need to point out the obvious dilemma; I would become human and vulnerable with a best before date, while he remained seventeen. "Yeah, but the trade off…babies, and a full range of emotions, sneezing…"

"You've never sneezed?"

"Nope. Don't get sick." We moved inch by inch until there was no space between us. Our thighs touched and my skin burned, which I found curious considering Edward's body temperature.

"Hot baths," Edward mumbled, his eyes fixed on my lips.

"Hot what?" He was sitting too close, and it was scrambling my brain.

"You should add that to your list. Sneezing, hot bath, alcohol—firsts for an angel of Heaven, no?"

I smiled, my checks flushed with warmth. "Driving," I added, "I always wondered what it would be like to have that kind of control."

The smile slipped from his face. "You don't have a lot of that do you?"

I shook my head.

"This afternoon with Dara, you had no choice but to go to her?"

"No. A Guard doesn't have that luxury. For a human, turning the other cheek is simple and rarely meets with consequence. A Guard doesn't choose who they protect; we're simply drawn to them. Moved like a chess piece, and we have no choice but to answer their call even if they're an asshole. We don't choose when we fade. Though humans don't really have much say in their deaths either, they can choose to be surrounded by loved ones at home, prolong the inevitable with technology, and even choose to end their lives. But angels, we just fade away as if we never were."

Edward's features softened and his hand reached out to take mine. He kissed the tip of my nose and looked into eyes. "I've come to the conclusion that I whine way too fucking much." He chuckled and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "My life might be long, and I gripe about that, but at least it's mine."

We grew silent, his fingertips running slow paths up and down my arm, over my knee and back up my thigh. I closed my eyes and let the sensation of it ride over my body like a current.

"Mmm, that feels good."

Edward didn't reply. His fingertips just continued their lazy stroll up and down, back and forth.

"Turn around," he finally said. His hands guided me, turning me sideways on the couch, one leg tucked in, the other dangled over the edge. I was turned away from him, and though I felt the slight movements he made, I wasn't prepared when his hands began drawing shapes in the centre of my back, and I jumped.

"Most of my childhood memories have been chewed up and swallowed by venom, but I remember this."

I smiled remembering a young Edward sitting in front of his mother, much like I was, as her fingers painted pictures on his back. He smiled and giggled as he tried to guess what she was drawing.

"Her hands were always so smooth and gentle." His voice was layered in long ago memories.

"It always made you sleepy. You were such a hyper child it was the only way the poor woman ever found any peace." I sighed as he finished the pattern and waited for me to guess. "A flower?"

"Not even close," he whispered so close to my ear I felt his lips touch the soft shell.

He drew it for a second time, his stroke slower and more exaggerated. The tip of his finger swiped the bare skin where my shirt had inched up. My body shivered and instantly I wanted his hands on my bare skin. Without thinking, I lifted my shirt up over my head and let it drop to the floor.

Edward didn't move or speak.

I peeked over my shoulder at the stunned vampire, and his eyes looked much darker than they had been just moments before.

"Touch…touch is new to me, and your fingers felt good on my skin," I said by way of explanation.

Edward relaxed and a smug grin bloomed on his face. "_Are all angels this forward_?" he thought.

"Shut up and draw," I ordered, picking his hand up off his knee and dropping it.

"As you wish." He swept my hair to the side and draped it over my shoulder. The sensation sent a wild thrill running up my spine. Slowly, he dragged his finger over my back, and I couldn't help the way my eyes fluttered shut.

"A car?" I mumbled.

"You're terrible at this."

"Maybe it's the artist that's terrible," I offered, watching tiny bumps pop up all over my arms.

_Fascinating._

A shiver tore through me when his nail lightly grazed my flesh, and I gasped. Immediately Edward stopped.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No, not at all. That feels amazing," I purred. "And this—" I pointed to the teeny bumps on my arm "—I like them. It tingles. Please don't stop," I begged when I realized his touch hadn't resumed.

Silently, he began again, using his nails a little more. He gave up on the picture and just ran his hands up and down my back. Fingertips danced and nails grazed, thrilling my entire body. That needful, demanding feeling returned; the same one that begged for contact when I'd kissed him.

"What's this?" His hands stopped, and his thumbs rubbed either side of my back just below my shoulder blades. "The texture of the skin is different…and almost iridescent."

"My wings. Put your hands over the marks," I instructed him in a soft voice. The barely visible marks he'd found on my back were scars, physical place markers for the appendages he couldn't see. I felt his hands flatten on my back, and he sucked in a quick breath. I knew he felt the heat that radiated from the spots where my wings connected to my body. I flexed them very deliberately.

"I can feel…it's like muscles moving under the surface of your skin, but you haven't moved an inch."

I did it again.

"Amazing… It's a soft, warm, rippling feeling," he said as his fingers began to roam my back again.

My stomach tightened and things began to tingle again. A moan slipped from between my lips when his nails gently scarped the back of my neck. His hands disappeared for the briefest second, and then I felt them at my hips, pulling me back toward him. My back rested against his chest, my arms limp at my sides. His cool breath weaved through my hair and down the side of my exposed neck.

Edward's hands rested on my shoulders, icy and feather light on me. They slipped down my arms, and I exhaled when his hands reached my own. He pried open the tight balls my hands had worked themselves into, and I let out a long, deep breath. My body was tense, but not in a bad way. This tension felt good, and I let him position my hands on his upper thighs.

Tentatively, he swept his finger back and forth across my stomach.

"_Is this okay?"_

I nodded, answering his silent question. My belly quivered as his fingers danced from hip to hip. He stopped for a brief second, and I heard his thoughts.

"_No naval…created, not born…makes sense."_

I followed his train of thought from there. "No naval because I had no tie to the womb, but I assure you, the rest of my body is anatomically correct…and fully functioning." For some reason talking about my body that way made me blush. I certainly wasn't shy about it. I'd lived with this body (or one very similar to it) for over four hundred years, but talking to_ him_ about it felt…intimate.

His hands ran higher, criss-crossing my ribs and stopping just under my cotton covered breasts as his brain quickly processed what I'd said. My eyes slipped closed again as he splayed one hand on my stomach and the other burned a cold trail between the soft hill of my bust. I heard an appreciative sound tumble from my mouth as the sensitive skin pebbled for the first time. Never before had my skin been excited like this, and the reaction my body had was amazing. Emotion seemed to tie fast and tight to the physical aspects of my excitement. The more attention he gave the surface my skin, the more I felt, the more I _wanted_. Lust was powerful emotion indeed.

"May I?" Edward breathed out, his hands mere inches away from my breasts.

"Yes," I hissed and leaned back, allowing my body to relax against his.

His long fingers spread wide and very slowly raked over each breast. I felt that touch so much deeper than any before it. I felt it in the pit of my stomach…and lower.

My hands clenched, gathering the rough material of his jeans.

"You're stunning." His voice sounded heavy and lost, like something you'd hear on the edge of a dream.

My body moved on instinct and my chest thrust forward forcing his hands to press more firmly.

"Yo, Edwa—"

Emmett stood in the doorway, staring at us, mouth hanging open.

"Nice rack for an angel, wings," he finally said with a big dumb smirk on his dimpled face.

Edward moved to cover me, glaring at his not-so-polite brother.

"Your manners are appalling. Knock first and _then_ barge in on the half-naked angel and the vampire groping her. Christ, Emmett!" I huffed and pulled my shirt back over my head.

He chuckled and calmly walked to the closet, opening it and pulling a box from the top shelf.

"Yahtzee?"

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**END NOTES: **

**I know ya'll wanna shoot me for not giving you the Angel/vamp sexin' just yet… keep your damn panties on you pervs. I'll get to it. Anyone that's read any of my other fics knows I love the lemons. **


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: I don't own it, but I like to play with it. No infringement intended. **

**For this chapter, especially near the end, listen to Florence + The Machine's Remain Nameless and The Drumming Song. **

**Waves to my new readers. Hi! Big hugs to all of you. And hugs to Maxipoo1024, beta queen and all round cool as fuck chick. **

**I'm on Twitter JaunarysFiction**

**Also, important ramble at the bottom, see ya there.**

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_**Chapter 10**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

I stepped out of the bathroom into the busy hall to find Edward waiting for me.

"Really?" He looked pointedly at the bathroom door and then back to me.

"I told you everything functions…it just never had a reason to before now." Over the last week I'd been spending more and more time with the Cullens, and as a result the very human body I inhabited began to behave as such. Lucky for me Rose had quickly interpreted my jittery little hop for what she deemed a "pee dance" and showed me to the nearest bathroom. The sensation was…interesting and it kind of amazed me. The human body was so complex, and it seemed to pretty much operate on its own. I didn't need to think about breathing to do it. When it was exhausted, it cued me. When it was hungry, my stomach would growl at me like some old, starved pooch. Amazing.

"Come with me?" Edward asked, slipping his hand into mine.

"Meet you there. I need to check on Dara."

"Of course," he whispered as he brought my knuckles to his cool mouth. He kissed them sweetly and released my hand.

I walked through the blue painted metal doors that lead out to the student parking lot and into a warm, muggy, overcast day. The heat of the day collided with the rain and created thick, moist air that clung to my skin. I said my goodbyes and watched the Cullens disperse. I walked to the side of the school and scanned the area, ensuring no human eyes were watching me as I began to push my way into _The Other_.

My transitions were moving slower than normal and took more effort than they had in the past. I'd yet to make the decision to Fall, but the time spent in the next plane was obviously having a huge effect on my body—and my divine gifts. It was becoming a rare thing for me to feel Edward's emotions, which was concerning to me as a Guard.

A spilt second before I staggered into _The Other_, I caught a flicker of movement to my left. I was certain no one was around, and once I oriented myself, I surveyed the environment. Nothing. I shook off the paranoia and let my wings bring me to Dara.

As it was expected, her mother hadn't survived her injuries and succumbed two days after the attack. Subsequently, her father, and only other living family member was arrested, leaving Dara alone. She'd been placed in an interim facility in Phoenix while awaiting a foster placement.

Dara sat in a light pink room on a single, metal framed bed, staring down at the grey and pink speckled linoleum flooring. Her feet swung back and forth at a slow pace, and her tiny hands gripped the side of the mattress.

I sat down next to her and wrapped my wing around her. Her death grip on the mattress loosened infinitesimally. We sat quietly for a little while, and I felt her relax just a little bit more.

A large, middle aged woman appeared in the doorway. She leaned against it causally and pushed her thick, dark framed glasses up her nose. Her hair was a washed out blonde, curly and unruly, and her face was maybe a little too tanned.

"Are you ready to go, Dara?" she asked in a gentle voice.

Dara's tension returned and her back stiffened. She shook her head, dark hair falling around her face. I flexed my wing and held her tighter.

"The Bevan's are a wonderful family, Dara." She stepped into the room and crouched down in front of the little girl. Her hand rested on Dara's knee in a gesture of comfort. "They have a little girl about your age…and a pool."

_That's it, play up the perks_, I thought.

"Do you like animals?" the woman asked.

"Yeah," she answered, tipping her head up to meet the eyes of the woman in front of her.

"Well then you're in luck! They have a dog, a cat, and _two_ guinea pigs," the tanned woman said in an excited voice, smiling at Dara.

"Yeah?"

"Yup, and they can't wait to meet you." The woman stood up and offered her hand to Dara.

I leaned in close. "It's okay, baby. I'll be here, watching," I assured her in a whisper.

Slowly, Dara reached up and took the friendly hand. Something in my heart settled and knew she'd be safe now, happy.

_**~IV~**_

"Careful, vampire, I hear you're highly flammable," I said softly, standing behind Jasper as he chucked a few more pieces of kindling on the already sizable fire.

Jasper jumped and spun in a blink. "Shouldn't sneak up on people, Isabella. Might get hurt," he drawled, slow and deadly sounding. He had me pinned to a tree and a smug smile lifted his lips.

"That's right, Jazz, you might." I smiled widely, pulled him through _The Other,_ and quickly deposited him about three miles from the group before returning alone.

"Very funny, angel girl," I heard him shout somewhere in the darkening forest, and within seconds he was back by his wife's side and all signs of smugness had been wiped clean off his handsome face.

Edward pulled me towards him and guided me to the fallen tree that served as our seat. "How's Dara?"

"Good. Safe. She's scared as all get out, but I think she'll be just fine."

"Children are resilient little things, aren't they?" Jasper said, sitting across the fire from me. Truth of the matter was that I was less concerned about the move and the new family than I was about the residual effects of having been witness to her mother's abuse. That would likely leave a mark that time might never erase.

"So it's the weekend," Emmett announced. "And most teenagers try their hand at general delinquency on the weekends around here."

I pitched my brow in question. I'd seen my share of teenaged stupidity over the years, some that ended poorly for my wards, but what exactly was Emmett getting at?

"I propose an evening of drinking. A first for you, wings," he said as his lips pulled into a wide smile and the dimples on either side of his face deepened.

"You want to get a divine being loaded?" I looked around at the vampires that had quickly become my friends, Alice especially. She seemed more like a sibling to me. She insisted on picking out clothes, and painting my nails, and would sit and listen to me tell stories about the charges I'd protected over the years. She never judged and she never asked why when it came to Edward. It was nice to have that.

Emmett on the other hand was like the goofy cousin you caused shit with anytime you were together. He introduced me to the art of "Punking" as he called it. He liked to mess with his family, and sometimes the humans around him, so long as no one was being hurt. I enjoyed the hell out him.

"Yes!" He clapped his hands, looking—again—like an over excited Pomeranian and reached down into a knapsack. He pulled out a few bottles and lined them up on the stump next to him.

"And you support this?" I asked Edward, looking from him to the liquor.

"Yep. Why not? Is there some grave sin preventing you?" he challenged.

"No, I…I've just seen a lot of people lose their lives to that shit," I explained, pointing at the display of bottles next to Emmett.

"Wings, you're surrounded by five vampires. I think you're safe," Rose said, giving me a look. She was right. The chances of anything happening to me were slim to absolutely nada. "Besides, _Boy Wonder_ over there won't let anything happen to his precious little Earth Angel." There was a little bit of snark tacked on to that last bit, but I couldn't fault her for it. That was just Rose.

"We'll even drink with you," Alice pulled out smaller bottles filled with dark liquid. Animal blood I assumed. "It's spiked with vodka. Straight alcohol doesn't really stick to our system."

"So you can get drunk?" I asked, looking around at the pale faces.

"Not really," Edward began. "The effect is short lived. Our venom burns through the alcohol quickly. The result is a mild buzz and no pesky hangover to deal with."

"So what's you poison, wings?" Emmett tipped his head towards the line up of bottles and wagged his brows.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Alice piped up.

I shrugged. I had no idea what that stuff tasted like, so choosing was truly going to be a random kind of thing, like closing my eyes and pointing.

"Dough head here forgot to include mixers. Things you add to the booze to cut the taste. Unless you're up for doing shots, which I've seen that jackass Newton do at a few parties, I wouldn't go with any of the hard stuff. Try this." Alice handed me a bottle of white wine. "No chaser or mix needed. Just open and enjoy."

Well that sounded about my speed, so I nodded my head and let Emmett do the honors of opening the bottle for me.

"No glasses?" Rose asked, throwing her hands up and shooting her husband an incredulous look. "Really?"

He shrugged and handed me the open bottle. I sniffed it cautiously. It was sweet smelling, but not sweet like candy or the amazing chocolate that Alice had given me. Feeling all eyes on me, I brought the bottle to my lips and spared a quick sideways glace at Edward before I tipped it back. I rolled the liquid around on my tongue and slowly swallowed. As it slipped down my throat, my tongue began to tingle and I smiled.

"Not bad. It's really sweet," I said and took a long pull of the wine.

"And a wino is born," Emmett said, pulling his own bottle out. "So teenaged idiocy dictates that games should be played while consuming alcohol. You up for a game of Would You Rather, Isabella?"

"Would I rather what?"

Edward chuckled. "The game is called Would You Rather. You're given two options and you chose one."

"Like would you rather be a professional tennis player or hockey player?" Jasper explained, but the look on his face told me he was leaving something out. I narrowed my eyes at him and he simply smiled.

"Oh, well then bring on the games, I guess. As long as you all fully understand that I _do not,_ under any circumstances, intend on dancing on any surface topless or doing shots off of Rose's chest. Got me? No crazy shenanigans. Be gentle with the angelic being." I nodded once and took another sip. I'd decided that wine was good.

"Not gonna lie, I was looking forward to the body shots," Emmett grumbled, looking so disappointed. Rose smacked his arm and he winced.

"Beauty before biceps," Rose said, flinging her hair over her shoulder. "I'll go first. Would you rather be deaf or blind?"

"Deaf," Edward blurted out. Right away I understood. Edward could hear the thoughts of everyone around him and tuning them out wasn't always an option for him. I was lucky enough that I only heard the voice of my wards, and only when I tuned in. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have all that information thrown at me all hours of the day.

"Blind," Alice said. "I've been alone in the dark before, and I survived." I truly loved her outlook on her horrid past. Yes, she was bitter about it, but she saw what others didn't, that she was strong enough to live through it and come out the other end shining.

They all turned and looked to me, waiting for my answer. "Deaf, I think. There's too much beauty to miss out."

"Deaf," Jasper said, nodding. He looked to his wife, and I needed no explanations as to why.

"What about you, big guy?" I looked across the fire to Emmett.

"I don't know. I mean, I know neither isn't a choice, but fuck! I think I'm going to go with deaf. Can't play video games with no eyesight."

Rose shook her head and rolled her golden eyes. "Blind," she answered without hesitation. "I've seen enough of the world." She didn't elaborate, but I had a feeling that her answer was rooted much deeper than she let on.

I took a drink and contemplated Rose's answer.

"Would you rather: have my power or Edward's?" Alice asked the group.

"I'd go with yours, Alice. I can already hear my charges, so…" I tipped the bottle to my lips again.

"Slow down, killer," Edward said, putting his hand on my thigh.

Apparently, I was drinking a little too fast. I looked down at the bottle and realized I consumed a fair amount already, so I handed it over to Edward. "Tricky, tricky. It tastes so good I didn't realize…the devil's juice." I grinned and patted his hand which was still firmly planted on my thigh.

"That's how it gets you," he said, placing the bottle on the ground between us. He winked and broke into a soft smile.

"I'd go with Alice's too. Jasper's if it were an option," Edward answered, still smiling at me.

Emmett hummed and slowly sipped on his booze laced blood. "I think I'm going to go with Alice on this one."

Jasper was quick to answer next. "Edward's. I can feel all these damned emotions all the time, but I don't know what motivates them. Hearing their thoughts would paint a bigger picture, you know?"

I nodded in understanding.

Rose and Alice made their choices and then Jasper spoke up. "Would you rather be human and only have the love of your life for short time or be immortal and be there to witness their decline and suffer their dying breathe?"

I knew what he was playing at. I'd yet to make any choices because it scared me, and he knew that. He was forcing me to think about the decisions I had ahead of me.

Rose went first. "Human. I'd rather experience love for a short while and not have to live through the heartache of losing them."

It seemed everyone had a rather definite answer. But I was torn. I'd only truly had Edward in my life for a little while now, a couple of months, and getting to know him had made me so happy that I understood Rose's reasoning. But I didn't want short and sweet. I wanted life times, but that wasn't an option. Know him and love him, or live forever without him. Pain suddenly ripped through my chest.

"Oh God," I sobbed.

"What's the matter?" Edward knelt in front of me, concern washed away the amusement.

"Human," I cried. "Human."

I looked to Jasper, and his features were soft and sympathetic.

"I've been in love with you for years. I've been with you for years…and I'm stupid!" I sobbed, grabbing Edward's shirt and pulling him close.

"Stupid?" he questioned, his voice was gentle as a whisper.

"I'm scared as hell. I'm scared to turn my back on everything I've ever known. I'm scared to lose so much of myself. I'm scared to leave Dara behind. And I'm not ready to do that yet. I'm not ready to make that trade, my wings and my immortality for a short human life with you," I ranted, staring into his perfect tawny eyes.

"And I'm fucking stupid for thinking the choice was all _mine_ to make!" I now understood why I was losing my gifts, why they were faltering here. It had nothing to do with the amount of time I spent on this plane. It was because so many years ago I'd _already _made that choice. I'd fallen in love with him. My fate was sealed the moment I whispered into a dying woman's ear. I sighed, my chest heaving, and explained that the day I showed myself to Edward was the day I set in motion my Falling—my release from divinity.

"So just let it happen." Jasper was suddenly standing next to me, his hand on my shoulder in a show of support.

He was right. Stupid, logical vampire. I could say it out loud right here and end my life as a Guard, or I could take the time the process seemed to be allowing me to get my ducks in a row. Slipping back into _The Other_ and ceasing to be a part of Edward's life was no longer an option. My heart knew that, my head just needed time to catch up.

"Dara—" I began.

"Will have everything she needs. A mysterious trust fund, perhaps," Rose said with a wink.

"Enough of the heavy. Let's get back to the drinking," Alice suggested, rubbing my back. She sat to my right, holding out that tasty wine, swishing the bottle back and forth.

I wiped the tears away from my face and snagged the bottle from her hand.

Edward went back to sitting oh so close to me. "A lot of first's today, Isabella." He smiled and caressed my still damp cheek.

"First bathroom trip, first drink, first mental break down…" I listed them, taking a small sip between each.

"First admission of love," Edward murmured in my ear. His breath was as warm as the blood he'd been drinking and smelled of cooper and something sweet.

"You're going to rub that in, aren't' you?"

"I planned on it," he admitted with a smug as hell grin.

We sat by the fire drinking and talking. I listed to the Cullens tell stories about their early days as vampires and the adjustments they'd all made. Rose seemed the most bitter, but it was clear she'd rather this life with Emmett or no life at all. They talked about the coven's leaders, Carlisle and Esme, and the way they cared for each other. It was easy to hear the admiration in their voices.

Emmett and Rose were the first to drop away from the circle. They said their goodbyes and took off into the night in search of bears and deer.

I asked Jasper more about his empathic abilities and how they've grown over the years. It was interesting to note that as humans they all had talents that, I suspected, had they gone on living a normal human life may have amplified, though not to the extend they now had. Being brought into the supernatural fold seemed to have sped up that process. Soon enough, Edward and I were left alone and the world was a little wobbly, and for reasons I was sure boiled down to alcoholic intake, I couldn't stop smiling. I felt light, and happy, and…something else.

"So you're in love with me," Edward teased, poking the dying flames with a long stick and nudging me with his shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. Deal with it, vampire." I huffed and slid down onto the cool forest floor.

"Isabella, I know this scares you, but would you trust me to take care of you? You've watched over me for more than a hundred years. I think it's time you took a break." His hand reached down and curled a piece of hair behind my ear. My body shivered.

"I trust you," I said in a low voice.

He slipped off the log and joined me on the ground. His hand ran up my leg and squeezed my knee. His fingers tickled their way up my thigh and my stomach tightened.

"Oh, don't start that again," I whined, closing my eyes and letting his fingers run where they would.

"I didn't start anything. You're the one that stripped." And had Emmett not interrupted I was fairly certain more than some innocent petting would have gone on. "You smelled so good…" A growl ripped through him, and I turned my face to his. "And your skin was so soft. It's all I've thought about."

He showed me what he thought of. His lips at my throat, licking and kissing at first, and then biting. Blood spilled down the sides of my neck in thin red lines.

"You really want a taste, don't you?" I asked. Heat flashed all over my body and the thought of his teeth sinking into my skin made my heart beat a little faster. I wasn't afraid. I wanted it. I wanted to feel him anyway I could.

Edward's eyes were pinched shut, and his hands had balled into fists. I felt shame pushing off of him in waves. "Yes," he hissed through clenched teeth.

I moved to straddle him, and a look of shock passed over his face. "Then taste."

His hands clutched my hips, and he pulled me up his legs, bringing me closer. Now, I'd been around humans for four hundred and thirty years, so human sexuality was no mystery, but seeing and _feeling_ were two _very_ different experiences. Warmth bloomed in my tummy, and that delicious tingle that seemed to happen whenever I was close to Edward returned. He pushed my hair over my shoulder and his eyes—now black as pitch—roamed my face for any sign of reluctance or fear. He saw none. His face inched closer to mine, and I couldn't breathe. Excitement rendered my lungs useless. When his cool lips touched mine, I gasped breathing in the air between us. His hands found their way to my hair, and the sensation of his fingers on my scalp gently tugging at the strands made me moan in pleasure. I felt his cool venom coated tongue slide along my lips, and on reflex, I opened my mouth. He tasted sweet and sharp, and it burned cold in my mouth. By no means was it painful, and I wanted more. My head swam as he kissed my jaw, and my stomach quivered when his lips caressed the soft skin of my neck. His tongue darted out to taste me, and when Edward pulled my ear lobe into his mouth and gently sucked, my hips flew forward grinding against him. My hands gripped his arms. "Oh God, that felt good," I admitted in a shaky voice.

A chuckle shook his body, and he brought his eyes to mine. "You okay, angel?"

"Yes," I hissed, rocking my body against him. The tingling had quickly given way to a deep needy throb that felt both wonderful and infuriating all at once.

"Good…on the same page," he mumbled as his lips reached mine. He kissed me again but this kiss was…more. It was deeper, more intense. Edward's hands, still bracing my hips, began to guide my movements. He grunted when I pushed down needing more pressure.

"God," I panted. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest.

"Has nothing to do with this." He kissed my neck, and his hand clasped the back of my neck, steadying me. "If I hurt you…"

My divinity might be fading, but I still had my wings. I was still an angel, and though my body was becoming more human every day, I knew I still had their protection. "Do it," I begged, ready to feel his teeth on my flesh.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, giving him permission. My body continued to rock against him, and I could feel a tight coil winding in the pit of my stomach. I wanted that coil to unravel so badly, and I moved faster on instinct. Cold teeth suddenly pierced my skin, and I cried out.

Edward's hands went back to gripping my hips, moving me with purpose. His blood warmed breath washed across my neck and shoulder. "You taste…Isabella," he groaned. His tongue swept across the open wound and he shuddered. He leaned forward, angling our bodies just the slightest, and he pushed against me. That coil was so tight it burned, and I needed it to stop. The throbbing, the burn, it was all too much, and I cried in frustration as I pulled his face back to mine.

His kiss tasted of blood, my blood.

"You okay?" he asked between kisses.

"Yes…please," I begged, somehow knowing he could put an end to the incessant throbbing between my legs.

One hand slipped between us, and I felt him touch me. Though his hand never made contact with my skin, the pressure his fingers applied made my head spin, and I let out a breathy laugh. His mouth found its way back to my neck, and I felt him drawing from the wound again, sucking and savouring my blood. It was all too much, and suddenly the coil deep inside my belly snapped and my back bowed. Unable to control my body, I shook and moaned in his arms.

Edward growled, thrusting up into my body. He held me there, moving my hips in heavy circles over his very hard penis. Without warning he stilled, letting out a feral sound from somewhere deep in his throat, and then he jerked his hips once more. A cool, dampness pooled between us.

"I've never…that felt fucking amazing, Isabella." He kissed my mouth, his lips swollen and stained by my blood.

I nodded, sharing his sentiment.

We were still for a few moments just staring at one another, taking it all in.

"Stay with me," Edward whispered. "Come home and stay with me."

I wanted nothing more. I nodded and buried my face in his shoulder, feeling like I needed that physical support.

A choking sound ripped from his throat and Edward sat stiff as a board. I looked to his face and panic had replaced the bliss that had been there only seconds before. "Something's wrong," he said, his eyes wild.

I looked for signs of injury on his body, but there was nothing. His hands flew to his head, he screamed and then fell silent. I stroked his face, hoping to sooth him. I closed my eyes and tried to tap into him, hear his mind, but all that I heard was my own panic. My heart raced and stuttered painfully as fear gripped it tight.

"Edward…" I whispered.

* * *

**END NOTES**: **Yeah, I'm a cliffie can all wag your fingers at me and shout if you feel you need to. So what'd ya think of the supernatural dry humping? Writing from the prospective of a virgin angel was…interesting**.

**Important Ramble:**

**I've got a fic to rec, but before I do that I have something I want to say about this author and her fic. It takes a lot of balls to write something, even bigger balls to post it for the world to see. Very recently this amazing woman was stocked when her FFN account was temporarily suspended because a reader reported her story for breach of TOS. Now, if you don't like sex or violence, or maybe poly or slash or whatever the fuck rubs you the wrong way, you don't read it. Move on and find something fluffy and comforting to read if that's what you're looking for, but reporting an author that's spent hours creating a world and allowing us the privilege of being a part of, that's sad and low. This story will breach TOS as well, just so you know. Now, on with the rec. **

_**Gods and Monsters (aka Written in Blood)**_ by _**darkNnerdy**_- **If you read **_**Dark Paradise**_**, then you should already be reading this. **_**Gods and Monsters**_** is the sequel to the twisted tale of Edward and his Isabella that picks up where Dark Paradise left off, everything covered in blood and inches from death. Go read them both now and give Cunty (yes that's her nickname) a wave for me. She's on FFN and AO3. Give her love and let her know we're not all assholes. **

**~MissJanuary**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: SM owns the vamps, I own the angel, and that's that. No infringement intended. **

**So it's happened again, folks. Her amazing fic was reported again, and pulled again. Makes me sad that I might never read another of her stories because someone in our fandom is being a douche, and let's face it, a bully. Please don't ever be that person. Just walk away from the things you don't like.**

* * *

_**Chapter 11**_

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

My head was pounding. Venom pushed fast through my cold, hardened veins in a desperate effort to repair what had been broken. Thunder rolled through my brain, full of boom and force. My skull shook. Screaming, I grabbed my head, pulling at my hair, and prayed the pain would stop. Isabella's voice faded in and out. It was all around me, loud and demanding.

"Edward…" I heard her whisper so softly and so laced with worry. I heard Alice and Jasper racing through the forest; she knew something was wrong, she'd seen it, and I could hear the panic bouncing off the walls of her mind. Errantly, I wondered just _how much_ Alice had seen, but embarrassment, I found, was something only afforded to those _not_ in desperate situations.

"I saw—Edward, are you all right? What happened to him?" Alice shouted, adding to the deafening noise. I winced. She moved into my line of sight and placed her hands on mine, prompting me to release my hair.

"I…I don't know. He was fine. We…he was fine," Isabella stammered.

"The blood," Alice said, looking at Isabella. "He drank from you?"

I looked to Isabella's pained face; her eyes were sad and worried. The dark of the night betrayed their true colour, and a soft, auburn glow poured from them.

"Yes," she whispered with her head down in shame. _And it may be killing him_.

"How could you—"

"Stop!" I shouted. I gripped Isabella's thighs, pulling her closer. "Speak…in your mind." I forced the thunder aside and focused on the angel in front of me.

Her brows furrowed together, her hands sat on her hips, and her head tilted in question. She looked both confused and defiant. She was stunning. _You can't possibly hear me_.

A dark chuckle bubbled from deep inside me. "Yes, I can, little angel."

_Call me little again and I'll—_

"You'll what?" I challenged.

Stunned, her hands dropped from her hips and her eyes widened. "No, that can't be. My voice…it would _kill _you."

"I don't understand…" Alice stood watching our silent conversation. Her tiny body still quivered with trouble.

"Not for a lack of trying," I said, a little amused. My head still throbbed in agony, but the rumble was slowly fading, receding like a summer storm.

My petite angel turned to Alice, looking more than a little confused. "I think he can hear me—my mind."

Jasper, who had been silent until now, offered an explanation. "He drank from a divine being and now he can hear her inner voice. Like steroids…_her_ blood jacked up _his_ ability. Makes perfect sense really."

Relief washed over Alice, but Isabella still looked panicked.

"The pain is less now, almost gone," I reassured her, pulling her back down to my lap.

"I'm so sorry, Edward. I had no idea." Isabella mumbled, tucking her head under my chin.

Her apology was ridiculous. She couldn't have known what would happen. I cupped her chin and tilted her head up. Her eyes were closed her lips pursed in a tight line. She looked unsettled; it was something I never wanted to see again. "Look at me," I said in a soothing voice.

Her eyes fluttered open and the soft glow of earth and honey shone back at me. "Apologizing for things you neither understood nor controlled is stupid." Her eyes widened a tad, and her expression morphed into something closer to annoyance. "I've got a headache, truly no big deal. I'm alive and reasonably well; no harm, no foul."

"But..."

"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes and pulling her closer. "I'm fine. Better than fine, actually." I bent my head; my lips grazed the shell of her ear. "The taste of your blood is still on my tongue, little angel, and you taste just like you smell. Heaven and Hell. I'd gladly die a thousand times over to taste you again."

"Okay, this conversation is getting way too intimate and a little creepy," Alice said, interrupting my moment with Isabella. "Glad you're alive and all that, but I'm not sticking around for round two." With a giggle she spun on her heels and bolted into the forest.

"Two things, Edward…" Jasper said, looking in the direction his wife exited. "First, go jump in the lake, you both smell of sex and blood."

I felt the heat bloom on Isabella's face, and I chuckled. She dropped her head and sighed.

"Second, your eyes, man. They're a little…off." He pointed two fingers at me, wiggling them in some odd gesture, nodded, and then took off into the forest after Alice.

Isabella looked up, grabbing my face. "He's right, they're different. Not the same gold, but not blood red like they've been in the past. They're almost…" Her face drew closer, and warm, sweet breath fanned across my face. I inhaled deeply. "Glowing," she said in a hush so quiet, had I not been inches from her, I doubt I would have heard it.

"Glowing?"I questioned, pulling back to better read her face. "Like light-bulb-angel-eyes glowing?"

"Um…a little." She bit her bottom lip and 'opps' was written all over her face. "I'm sure it'll fade."

"So your condition's contagious," I joked, kissing her nose.

"Apparently. Like an STD."

I chuckled, squeezing her a little tighter. "DTD—Divinely Transmitted Disease."

"Well aren't we full of funny. You could have died." Her voice was serious, and her body tensed in my arms.

"Doubtful. You're an angel, not a killer. You said it yourself; you weren't built for wrath or death. How could your blood be anything _but_ miraculous?" I reached out my hand ran my finger along her collarbone, sweeping at a small speckle of blood. She watched me suck my finger into my mouth. Sinner or saviour, host of Heaven or Hell, the angel in my lap was full craving. Her milk chocolate eyes darkened, their luminescence lost to a wave of desire.

I let my nose trail her elegant neck and swallowed back the venom pooling in my mouth. "Hmm, we really do smell." I could happily drown in the scent surrounding us. "Come on, beautiful thing." I moved to stand and pulled Isabella up with me. I turned and waited for her to climb onto my back.

She drew her arms and legs around me, and I could feel her exhale against me. "You seem lighter," I said, noting a difference from the last time she clung to me like this.

She sighed deeply, and I felt her shake her head. "My wings are fading, Edward."

We moved through the forest at a much slower pace then I intended. "Can you feel them…your wings…fading?"

"Yes," she answered in a sorrowful voice. Loving me, being with me, was costing her, and I could hear it in her voice and feel it in the weight of her body.

"Does it hurt?" I couldn't imagine what it would be like to slowly lose a part of your body, your soul, and the very thought made me grimace.

"Not in the way you think. Do you remember what it was like to have a scab?"

"They itched," I recalled.

"They itch because they're healing. What's happening to my wings isn't a natural process, there's no annoying itch, just the sting of a scab picked open."

I stopped, pulling her down from my back, I turned to face her. "If you said you didn't want this, that you wanted to remain a Guard, would the pain go away?"

Her eyes dropped to the green mossy ground, and she shook her head. "It's already begun, Edward. There's no stopping it or slowing it down now. I'm okay with that. I've accepted it. The Fates knew it would take this long for me to come to terms with what I wanted. Needed."

"The Fates are mythological beings. _You_ chose, Isabella."

She chortled and gently brought her hand to my face, caressing my cheek. "Silly vampire. We're all myths. Choice is a funny thing. We can choose our clothes, the food we eat, choose to quit a job or take the bus, but the bigger picture, the path of our lives is largely decided long before we're born. The Fates are like architects; they draw up the design, and we just get to pick the paint colours."

"Oh Carlisle's going to love this," I rambled out loud. My father figure had a bone to pick with The Fates, God, and all that. His feelings on the subject were vast to say the least. We reached the lake, and I got lost in the gleam of moonlight on the water for a moment. Turns out vampires were as easily distracted by their surroundings as angels were. Everything was so still and perfect under the light of the moon. A rustle to my left brought me back. Isabella's blouse had fallen to the ground. I watched in awe as she walked toward the lake, her hands tugging the light blue tank top up and over her head. That too met the floor of the forest.

I followed suit, pulling my shirt over my head and mindlessly ambling toward the topless creature in front of me. Her dark hair cascaded down the centre of her back, the blue bra offsetting her pale, creamy skin. I heard the slide of her zipper and stopped in my tracks.

Greedily, I took in the sight of Isabella pulling her jeans off. She shimmed them over the slight curve of her hips, and then bent to pull them down her thighs. She stepped out of them slowly and toed them off to the side. I swallowed a mouthful of venom. The rhythmic sway of her hips and the nearly tear drop shape of her backside was mesmerizing.

A soft chuckle broke the stillness. "I can hear you back there." She looked over her shoulder and very intentionally wiggled her hips just the slightest bit. "Not very gentlemanly, those thoughts," she teased.

"You're practically naked, Isabella, what do expect?" I took a step toward her stalking her like prey.

"You're going to be terribly uncomfortable in wet pants." She pointed to my jeans, and before I could reach her, she took off running into the water, laughing. Cold lake water splashed up around her, hitting my chest and face. I quickly stripped off my jeans, leaving my socks and shoes haphazardly chucked somewhere by the edge of the water.

She turned toward me, her hair damp and her body covered in glistening droplets. Her eyes were as bright as I'd ever seen them. She reached her hand out to me and let me pull her to me.

"You're not an angel; you're a siren, a devil." I bent and kissed her forehead, wrapping my arms around her.

She huffed out a short laugh and shook her head. "Angels have halos and wings and wear white flowing dressing. Right? We're utterly perfect. We don't swear or think for ourselves."

"Admittedly, we have it wrong."

"Everything ever created, breathing or otherwise…" she looked at me pointedly "…is perfect as is. Flaws and all, it's exactly how it's supposed to be. Perfection is a notion humans invented that was truly never meant to be applied to people. A perfect chemical composition, a perfect number, but never a perfect person. Angels are not perfect things, Edward. We were never meant to be." Her nails gently scarped down my chest and stopped at my waist.

"Good, because that's something I could never live up to."

She pushed off my chest and walked backward. The lake rose around her until she was wading in shoulder deep water. My fingers ached to touch her again, and her beautiful flushed face flashed to mind. Hovering over me, eyes shut, mouth parted, she was simply the most marvelous thing I'd ever seen. I could practically feel the weight of her body rocking against me. I followed her further into the lake.

She looked at me, studying my chest, my shoulders, my arms.

"What?" I asked, my head cocked to the side.

"You're kind of…stunning. I mean…I've seen you, um, shirtless before now." She looked very sheepish, her teeth biting at her bottom lip.

"A stalker and a pervert." I wagged my head, giving her a look of mock disgust.

"No…I…uhh…"

"Admit it, Isabella, your wings are a little warped." I couldn't help but tease her. She blushed so beautifully.

She slapped my upper arm and rolled her bright eyes. "I've only ever seen you like this. Well, with pants, and only through the film. Seeing you this close…this exposed—" She pressed her lips into a tight line and looked away.

Pictures of her small hands gripping my shoulders popped into my mind, and I quickly realized they were her thoughts. "_You felt so good against me_." The thought sounded shy and little, like she was admitting some great sin. "_I wanted…I wanted_."

"What, beautiful girl? You wanted what?" I could guess easily enough by the thoughts floating through her mind what she wanted.

"_I wanted to touch you. To know what you felt like_."

I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed her palm. She was perfectly still, her other hand gripping my bicep.

"Please," she whispered, as if I could deny her.

I pulled her hand down the length of my torso, it slipped easily through the water. When our hands reached the band of my boxer briefs, I dipped my head, crushed my lips to hers, and slid our joined hands under the water-soaked material. I let her hand wander my growing length, exploring me. I moaned when she cupped me and let the weight of me fill her hand.

"_Like iron and velvet_," she thought as her fingers traced up and over the head and back down. She continued this circuit, down one side of my shaft, over my head, and back down the other side. When my hips moved without my permission, her hand stilled. I brought my hand back to hers, wrapped them around my erection, and slowly pumped up and down. She whimpered, the sound getting lost in our kiss.

"Let me," she said, pausing our movement.

I removed my hand and let her take over. The confidence and firmness in her touch made me smile.

She gripped me and increased the pace the louder my sounds became. I couldn't help the groaning or the way my hips would roll toward her on every up stroke. Her tongue pushed against mine, and I knew she was playing with a mouthful of dangerous venom, but something in the back of my head told me she was safe.

Suddenly, everything felt tight and I knew I was on the brink. My hand flew to her head and gripped fists full of the silky, wet hair. I tugged at the strands as I cried out my release. Frightened that maybe I'd hurt her, I quickly let my hands drop to my sides.

"For future reference, hair pulling is definitely okay," she said, hearing the apprehension in my thoughts. "Also…God that felt good to do." Isabella had a sly, almost smug look on her face. "The control…the sheer power of—"

The wind shifted, and Isabella shivered, and in the fading moonlight she looked like the creature she was: powerful and otherworldly.

"Do you smell that?" I sniffed the air and turned my head to unfamiliar scent.

"I know sex and blood, ergo the romp in the lake."

"No, not us." I pulled her closer, water pushing up between us. "Not human."

"I hate to point out the obvious, but…"

"Shut it, angel." I stood stalk still and listened to the sounds around me. Something was watching us. I could feel it in every bone and every tissue. I heard the babble of the lake, the hoot of a nearby owl, Isabella's steady breathing, but little else. My eyes darted around the dark woods, searching for a face, movement, anything. But there was nothing.

I led her back to the shore, her hand in mine, my body on full alert. The closer we got to the shore, the greater the scent became. But there was nothing, no one and the pebbly terrain made it hard to track anything that may have passed by.

"Let's get you home," I said, looking at the soaked angel to my right.

We dressed silently, the crunch of tiny stones moving beneath our feet and the morning song of nearby birds became our soundtrack. It was peaceful, if only a little eerie.

"My tank top is gone. Did you steal my top, Edward Masen?" She turned to me in jeans and a bra, with her hands on her hips.

"No, why would I…"

Hearing my inner thought, that someone or something must have taken it, she walked to me, her blouse still crumpled on the ground, and laid her hand on my chest. She closed her eyes and shifted us to the living room of my home.

Her hand fell away and she collapsed to the floor.

"Isabella!"

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**END NOTES:** **I don't have a rec or musical number to go along with this chapter, sorry. But if you're looking for more to read, check out my one shots (yes that was dirty, dirty self promotion, get over it); Make Me, Trippin' Through The Daises, Living Dead Girl, A Random Lottery And Series of Near Mistakes.**

**Oh and apologies to anyone that was put off by my error. In Ch2 I'd said she was in her early 30's. I was corrected. She's 26... don't shoot! **

**Thanks for reading, catch ya in the next chapter ~**_**MissJanuary **_


	13. Chapter 12

**AN: I think we've been through this a few times now, I own more pairs of sweatpants than necessary, but I do not own Twilight.**

**Music selections this time around: Little Black Submarines by the Black Keys, and In My Veins by Andrew Belle.**

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_**CHAPTER **__**12**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

I heard the shift in the air and the clamour of feet against the hard wood as six swiftly moving beings converged on me. I heard the worried whispers and the murmurs of comfort. I felt cool arms pull me up into a childlike embrace, and then I felt the soft cushion of what I assumed was someone's bed.

Cold fingers gently came to rest on the inside of my wrist. "What happened?" Carlisle asked.

"There was someone in the forest. She moved us to the house and collapsed." Edward sounded worried, and I wanted nothing more than to reach out and caress the lines surely creasing his face. I wanted to sit up and tell them to stop fucking fussing over me, but I couldn't. My body was so far beyond tired and drained. I could do nothing but lay there and listen to the worrisome chatter around me.

"Someone _who_?" Alice asked.

"I'm...I don't know. They took her top, but I didn't hear or see anything. There was just this smell. Something close to human, but not quite," Edward explained.

"Another vampire?" I heard Esme ask.

"Maybe."

"Edward, she's cold," Carlisle said, sounding very concerned. Not long after I'd introduced myself to the Cullen family, Carlisle asked if I would be willing to submit to a few tests. He was rather curious to see just how far from human I was. We'd discovered that my temperature, regardless of the situation, was a steady 99.8 degrees. Just slightly higher than a human. "93.7 degrees."

Strange, but I didn't feel cold. I felt fine, peaceful even.

"Her wings are fading," Edward announced in a somber voice. "It was too much. She shouldn't have even tried."

"But why is she so cold?" Carlisle mused. "And why are your eyes...um...brighter?"

I listened to Edward explain our simple theory, and as he did, I smiled inside. He'd bitten me, and clearly my blood had an effect on him, but not once did we stop to think that his venom might pose a threat to me. A human would have succumbed to it immediately, but an angel? My inner smile grew, thinking of the part of Edward that was racing through my veins and filling my body.

"So you swapped fluids and now you can hear her thoughts? And fuck only knows what's going on with your eyes, and she's gone all cold-coma-girl. Sounds like a fair fucking trade to me." Though he was aiming for anger, I could hear the fear in Emmett's voice.

"Alright, that's it! No more poking at the angel," Rose barked. "Esme, there are some warm PJs in the bottom drawer of my dresser. Could you bring them?"

"Everyone out," Alice ordered.

"_I don't know if you can hear me, angel...please come back to me," _Edward's voice begged.

The worry and pain in his thoughts tugged at something in my heart, like a stitch pulling at a fresh wound. I wanted nothing more than to stand up and wrap my arms around him. I wanted to caress his face and smooth the lines that undoubtedly found a home on his forehead. I begged my body to let me do just that, but it wouldn't. I felt like a wire snipped from its energy source. Everything inside me was idle, still, and waiting to be reconnected. There was no pain, just a calm, frustratingly peace nothing. I willed that wire to reconnect and directed my thoughts at Edward, I said, "_I can hear you, be patient_. _Listen to your sister and let me rest__." _Verve seemed to seep away from me with the effort. My body was tired and drained.

"As you wish," Edward spoke aloud, and I felt the cold press of his lips on my forehead.

"Should have jumped in with your clothes on, wings," I heard Rose say. "I can smell the sex in these jeans, girl."

"Rose!" Esme's motherly tone rang from somewhere in the room.

"What? You gonna sit up and admonish me, coma girl?" I felt her poke my shoulder, and I heard the smile in her voice. "Have at it!" She chuckled, and I felt warm cotton replace the rough, and apparently ruined jeans.

"Rubber ducks, Rose? Really?" Alice said, and I felt my torso lifting off the soft mattress. "They seem to fit her awfully well. Was someone banking on a visit from an angel?"

"Zip it, small stuff, or I'll shove you in that trunk again," Rose replied. Mysterious sleep aside, I was rather enjoying my entertainment. Their banter made my insides smile.

"Idle threats, Rosie," I heard Alice retort.

"You girls are impossible," Esme said, but somehow I knew she was smiling.

The gentle weight of covers being pulled over my body felt like the caress of a soft, loving hand. The weight shifted on the bed and arms coiled around my centre.

"I don't know what's happening to you in there, Isabella, but I know you can hear me. I know you can hear Edward's thoughts too. I hope there isn't any pain. For humans it burns..." Alice's voice was close to my ear.

"I remember turning. I could feel every cell in my body being destroyed, burning away. I screamed for days. But you're so still. Is that's what's happening, are you turning?"

I didn't think that was what was happening. Aside from being unbelievably tired and unable to wake, there was no pain, no burning. Just a peaceful, dull humming coursing through my body. Mustering what was left of the spark in my veins, I shot a thought out to Edward. "_I don't think I'm turning, I'm not in any pain_. _Please don't worry_." If Alice had come to that conclusion, surely Edward thought the same, and the idea of him pondering a burning angel was not something I wanted the rest of Cullen clan dealing with.

"Don't worry, right. Not so easily done, Isabella." I heard Edward mumble.

A breathy laugh tickled my neck. "You must be able to speak to him still. He's going to wear a hole in the kitchen floor with all that pacing."

_Kitchen? I can hear him from the kitchen? _

Alice stayed by my side, but grew silent. My mind relaxed, and slowly the sounds around me faded away, and the weight of the tiny body next to me disappeared, leaving me alone in my mind. I found myself drifting into a dream. My mind wandered down a dark avenue.

_Tiny houses lined the street, all dark and seemingly unloved or cared for by anyone. At the end of the row, a house stood, lit from within. I could feel the warmth radiating from it and pulling me forward. My feet moved at a slow pace, like walking through water. I reached the front of the house and the door stood open, waiting for me to enter. Warmth enveloped me as I passed the threshold and stood in the entrance. The bright lights around me slowly dimmed and figures blurred into sight. They stood around me, all soft edges and shadows. They looked to be made of smoke and charcoal, little substance and easily destroyed._

_The structure around me bent and warped until nothing remained of the house I stood in. I stood, alone, in a dark forest, smoky shadows moving quickly around me. Something inside me knew that fear would be an appropriate response, but I couldn't bring that emotion to fruition. Instead, I stood and let the figures press closer and closer, my fists shaking with a need I could not name. _

**_~IV~_**

"She'll wake up soon, Edward, relax." Alice's sure and steady voice cut into my dream and whisked away the dark shadows.

"Why can you see her _now_?" Edward's hand gripped mine.

"I don't know. Maybe because she's been in this plane for two fucking days now, that might do it. Maybe when you two swapped spit, it changed you both. Maybe—"

"You should stop talking about me like I'm not here," I said, sitting up and pushing the hair away from my face.

The entire Cullen clan gathered around the bed, all relieved and staring at me.

Edward drew my hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. "Thank you," he said softly.

"For what?" I looked down at the duck covered flannel PJs and couldn't help but shoot Rose a look.

"For coming back," he whispered into the palm of my hand.

"I told you she would," Alice huffed, sounding a little annoyed with her brother.

I pulled my legs to my chest and laced my fingers with his. "I told you not to worry. I needed rest. It was stupid of me to travel so much in one day. My wings aren't what they used to be. But my hearing…"

I studied Edward's eyes; they'd yet to lose the soft effulgence they took on after he drank from me.

"There's something moving around outside. Small, shuffling on the ground. Maybe a raccoon or something of the sort." I nodded my head to the east side of the home, and all seven vampires cocked their head toward the sound. The moment was pretty comical, and I giggled.

"So you've got super vamp hearing now?" Emmett asked, stepping closer, his hands in his pockets, looking casual and laid back.

"Apparently. No fangs though," I joked.

"May I?" Carlisle crouched next the bed and placed his hand on my wrist, listening to my pulse. He smiled. "It's a tad faster," he noted, "but by no means alarming."

"And my temperature?" I inquired.

He pulled the bedside drawer open and reached inside. "I've been checking periodically," he explained, pulling the cap off the thermometer. I opened my mouth and he placed the cold sensor under my tongue. I sat while the digital display counted upward. "It's been steady at 93 degrees," Carlisle said, reading the display and nodding. "And you appear to be just fine. How do you feel?"

All eyes on me again, I squirmed.

"Well…" I let it sit in the air, roaming each face before I continued. "Rose, your taste in sleepwear is fucking deplorable. Alice, Jasper, I _know_ you don't sleep, so being in this bed gives me the heebie-geebies, and _you_…" My eyes snapped to Edward. "Stop looking at me like I might shatter into a million pieces. And…thank you all for making sure I was safe and taken care of. I've never had anyone see to me like that. Never had a need." I threw the covers off me and got out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Edward asked as I walked past the circle of supernaturals surrounding the bed.

"The bathroom. I've been in bed for two days; I have to pee."

"Oh, right." Edward's eyes met mine, and it was clear to see the overwhelming relief in them. "_I'll draw you a bath_," he thought, following me from the room. "You really do look ridiculous in those pajamas." He snickered and tugged at the material in the centre of my back, faltering my step.

I entered his room and took in the sight.

"Alice thought you could use some new clothes," he pointed to the closet that was teeming with dresses, blouses, and shoes.

That wasn't what shocked me, though, and I stared at the large bed. "That wasn't there before."

"No…that's new. I hated the idea of you sleeping in someone else's bed, so…"

"Think it's big enough?" I asked, trying not to giggle. I heard a snicker somewhere down the hall and watched Edward turn toward the door, shut it with a dismissive flick of the wrist, and spin to face me.

He casually waltzed past me and into the en suite bathroom. "You shouldn't tease me, Isabella," he warned while turning the faucet.

"Why, because your dangerous?" I flicked his shoulder and cocked my hip.

In a flash, he had me pushed against the marble wall, his body firmly against mine. He towered over me, looking down at me with a false threat in his eyes. "Something like that."

A grin stretched across my face as I fired off lurid images, assaulting Edward's mind.

"Christ," he groaned as his erection grew.

"You said he has nothing to do with this," I said, reminding him of his words from nights before. I placed both my hands on his chest and gave a light shove. "Now out before my bladder gives way."

The sound he made was caught somewhere between assent and letdown. "Towels, bubbly stuff…that's all in there," he said, pointing to linen closet behind him. "Call if you need anything."

I nodded and watched Edward turn away, shutting the door behind him.

The warm water surrounded me as I slipped into the tub. I let my head loll, and I closed my eyes and let the heat sink into my stiff muscles. Moaning, I sunk a little further into the water.

"_Making sounds like that is dangerous, Isabella_." I could practically see his head shaking as he said it.

"Don't tease the vampire, indeed," I mumbled to myself, a grin cracking my lips. Having access to his mind was an inviting and tempting thing. I stared across at my feet peeking out from the bubbly water. I wiggled my toes, and then shot him that image. Something hit the bathroom door with a soft thud.

"What was that?" I asked, knowing he heard my soft voice beyond the door.

"Pillow. Stop it."

My grin grew, and I chuckled silently. I let him watch as I slipped my hand up my wet thigh and brushed away a small cluster of bubbles perched on my knee.

"_Playing with fire, angel_," he thought. His voice sounded deadly and my stomach clenched. Dangerous or not, I wanted it. From the moment he'd sunk his teeth into my neck, I wanted nothing less than everything. I wanted more of his touch, his breath laced with the metallic scent of my blood. More of him in every way I could muster. I wanted him to consume me, to tear me open and drink me in. Every single fibre, tissue, and cell sang for him. I wanted fire.

I looked down at the gentle swell of my breasts, just barely peeking out of the soapy water, and brought my hands to them, slowly pushing the bubbles away and exposing a little more of me.

I heard the click and the slow swing of the door before I turned my head.

"Too far?" I asked, biting my lip, my hands still hovering over my breasts.

He took a quick step forward. "Too far."

He slipped in behind me, jeans and all. Water sloshed up and over the brim of the tub. His hands snaked down my shoulders and arms, then his fingers grazed my hips, and that need to be surrounded by him took me over. I grabbed his hands and wrapped his arms around my middle, needing him to hold me tight and close. His feet tapped mine at the other end of the tub.

"Those bubbles aren't hiding much, Isabella," he murmured into my ear.

"Neither are those jeans." I slid my wet body against his clothed, water-soaked body.

"You're stunning."

"You've mentioned that before."

"Cheeky little angel."

"How do you know we're not all like this?" I joked, trailing my fingers over his forearms. His hand dipped under the water and between my thighs, and I startled a little when he lightly pinched my inner thigh.

"I wouldn't have you any other way," he whispered, his lips running along the shell of my ear.

With one hand, he pulled my legs apart and silently asked if touching me was permissible. I hummed my assent and felt his hands stroke my hips and move between my legs, travelling ever closer to my centre. The centre of the universe, I'd heard it called; definitely a reasonable euphemism as far as I was concerned. When his fingertips grazed my outer lips, my hips jumped.

"If I hurt you…" he said, speaking in a breathy, heavy voice.

"It's okay," I assured him. "Just don't bite. I need a few days to recoup."

"_You'll allow that again?_" His inner voice sounded completely astonished.

I turned my face to look at him. "Yes. I…it…" I was struck stupid with shame and didn't know how to explain to him that I didn't just want it, I needed it. I craved every part of him. Every razor sharp, deadly, venom coated part. I shouldn't have enjoyed teeth piercing my skin, but I did. My stomach shouldn't clench in excitement picturing my blood on his lips, but it did.

"It felt good?" he finished for me.

"Yes. The pain, all of it was so good, Edward." A finger slipped inside me, I let out a surprisingly loud moan. My hips jerked and water poured over the side of the tub.

"They say there's pleasure in pain." His finger pushed further in, and I gripped his legs trying not to move quite so much.

"Hmm." I absently nodded, feeling a small tight ball forming in the pit of my stomach. I placed my hand on my belly, pushing, sure I would feel some sort of physical mass of excitement building inside me. I looked down between my legs and watched Edward's hand as his finger pushed into me and slipped back out, playing around the sensitive folds. With every inward thrust, I ground against the palm of his hand.

I'd always thought that inexperience would make me awkward or hesitant, but my body knew exactly what it wanted from Edward, and it moved in accordance. Again, the human body amazed me. The way it drove, so effortlessly, toward a goal—satisfaction—without being told how to get there was pretty close to astonishing.

His fingers moved faster and soon there were two pressing and pushing inside. His idle hand found my breast, and he weighed it in his hand carefully, caressing the slick skin and gently teasing the hardened peak. "Such a beautiful shade of pink," he mumbled as he kissed the side of my face and down my neck. Without warning, he pinched, rolling my nipple between his finger and thumb. The tight ball sitting low in my belly exploded, and I watched in wonder as my toes curled and my leg muscles tightened in response to what Edward was doing to my body.

"Oh…" I grabbed his hand and held it against me as my hips bucked forward, riding out the waves of an intense orgasm.

"Angel, you are not," he whispered in my ear. "But feeling that…inside you, heaven."

He picked me up out of the water and carried me to the oversized bed, laying me down softly, sweetly. I giggled at his soggy clothes and scurried under the warm covers. I pulled them up over my chest and watched as his eyes pivoted between the bathroom and the bed.

"_Slip into bed with the sexy angel, maybe take things too far and bite her again, or take a hot shower?"_

"Fucking hell," he grumbled and turned back to the bathroom.

I let my head sink into the pillow. I listened to Edward cleaning up the watery wonderland we'd created in the other room, and I listened to the other vampires move around the house. Suddenly, I was extremely embarrassed.

"_They heard me, didn't they?_" I thought, rolling over and burying my heated face in the fluffy pillow.

"Yup," I heard Edward answer. "But I wouldn't worry about it. I've heard much worse in this house." For words meant to assuage me, they sounded awfully smug.

I shook my head, my nose scrubbing the soft cotton. The shower turned on and I couldn't help but let my thoughts run to him. His wet T-shirt hit the floor and my brain took a hard left hand turn.

"_My tank top?" _I remembered the discarded piece of clothing by the lake.

"_Never retrieved."_

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**End Notes: One of, if not my favourite scenes in Twilight (extras) was Bella offering a taste to Edward on the forest floor. Though I always thought that was much more Rob and Kristen than Bella and Edward, I found it incredibly sexy to admit what he truly wanted from her, blood. And more so that she was willing to give it. Anyway hoors, drop me a line and let me know what you're thinking.**

** ~MissJanuary**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: SM owns the pretty vamps and the mousy human, but I gave her wings and a foul mouth. **

**If you wanna come play with me on Twitter: JanuarysFiction -that's me. Sometimes I tell you about a story's status, most mostly I just fucking babble. **

**Chapter track: **Fitzcarraldo** by **_**The Frames. **_**Go check it out on YouTube.**

**Pay attention to POV's, they flip throughout this chapter.**

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_**Chapter 13**_

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

"No. Human is easy; their scent is warm and tangy. It was definitely not human." I shook my head, looking around the room at the others, Isabella by my side.

"Perhaps the scent faded, or maybe something about their diet altered the smell?" Esme offered.

I titled my head to the picture window and gazed at the yellow and red roses growing just beyond the glass. "Same flower, but different species, right?"

Emse nodded. "Yes, though essentially the same plant, there are minor differences in them."

"And if I blindfolded you and handed you a rose, you'd know exactly which you held, wouldn't you?" I asked, looking at my mother for all intents and purposes.

"Of course I would. The red roses, I find, have a slightly more fragrant—" She stopped and offered me a rueful smile. "But of course you'd notice that subtle difference. My apologies, il mio tesoro."

"Maybe it was a bat," Emmett piped up. "You guys were all…um…_distracted_. The bat swoops down, snags Isabella's top, and takes off into the night."

The hand gestures that accompanied his explanation were too much, and I burst out laughing.

"Fuck you, dude! My bat theory's just as good as your 'not a human-human' theory." Emmett huffed and dropped to the couch next to his wife, who was trying like hell not to laugh at him.

"So something, not entirely human, maybe a vampire but definitely not a bat, took my top and just pranced off?" Isabella looked tired and weary. I urged her to sleep, but she couldn't. Her mind was too busy racing around what if's.

"That's about the long and short of it and until they show themselves again, we've got nothing," Jasper said, pulling away from the table and moving to flip on the TV.

_**~IV~**_

After some debate—mostly pigheaded denial on Isabella's part—she finally conceded to some down time in _The Other. _Though she was Falling, and the process was slow, spending time in the other plane seemed to recharge her, and she was exhausted.

"I've never seen her transition so slowly before," I admitted to Carlisle with some concern.

Normally, when Isabella moved from one plane to another, it was quick. So quick it was as if she were always there, you'd simply overlooked her before. When she'd grudgingly marched her feathered duff back into _The Other_ early this evening, it was a slow, jerky process, as if she were meeting resistance. Her form blurred and wavered and finally disappeared.

"I can't imagine the consequence this is having on her," Carlisle said, his face was a mask of thoughtfulness. "Falling is changing her. Changing how her body works, how it reacts, perhaps even her genetic makeup is being altered. Your venom's affected her just as her blood has affected you. None of this can be easy on her body, and yet she doesn't complain. She's mentioned nothing of pain or discomfort. She is strong, Edward. I'd hold your worry and your pity for someone that _truly_ earned it." He patted me on the back and offered me a comforting glance before leaving the room.

My room was empty, my bed—which _may_ have been overkill—was empty and the house was silent. I could feel her nearby; I knew she wouldn't go far.

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

"_Stop talking about me like I'm not standing right here_," I thought at him, listening to his conversation with Carlisle.

When he didn't respond, I knew he couldn't hear me. The world that was keeping me hidden from him also kept my thoughts silent and trapped behind the film that separated us.

I watched as Carlisle left the room and Edward made his way to bedroom. He pulled off his shirt and chucked it into a hamper, leaving him in basketball shorts.

"Prancing around half naked, is not the way to convince a girl to stick around in another dimension, jack ass," I grumbled.

I got comfortable and let whatever magic existing here restore me, knowing full well I'd get nothing but stink eye if I suddenly popped into his room and demanded he lose the shorts. He stretched out on the giant bed with a book and picked up where he'd left off.

I let my mind slip and slide. It naturally wandered to Edward at first, reliving kisses and touches and chocolate, for some reason. It slipped backward to Fork's High School and a quick blur that had been a fleeting source of paranoia for me. Then it raced forward to the lake and the moonlight and Edward's perfect body. That should have made me smile, but an uneasy feeling clung to me. Again, my brain walked me back to the side of school and the quick flash I'd seen just before I broke through to _The Other_. I struggled to slow things down, to capture that flash in a still frame. My eyes pinched with the effort and wrinkles pushed up on my forehead as I forced my mind to slow it down.

Suddenly, clear as crystal, the image stopped and what was once a streak became a figure darting between the trees. A woman with long red hair.

_**~IV~**_

**APOV**

My vision blurred and warped and Jasper vanished from my view. Before me stood three vampires: a lanky but imposing blonde whose eyes were constantly shifting, a red headed girl with a sly smile, and a slightly thicker vampire whose poise and control frightened me. They sprang into action, moving swiftly through the forest.

My perspective changed, and I saw Isabella on her knees, looking up at the blonde vampire. There was a fierce look in her eyes, something I'd never seen in her.

Again, my vision warped and flipped, and I was looking into the deep red eyes of the tall, dark vampire. His hand rose slowly and a menacing grin cracked his lips. His hand flew forward and my sight cut out. Everything was black.

"Alice! Alice what did you see?" Jasper's voice was laden with panic and concern.

I reached for his hand, blinking as the vision receded. "They're going to kill her."

**~IV~**

**EPOV**

Alice crashed into my thoughts with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. "_They're going to kill her, Edward. They know what she is, and they want her._"

I shot forward like and arrow from a bow and through the open door just as Alice was about to enter. "Kill who?" I said through a clenched jaw.

"Isabella," she whispered. Her face was twisted in horror and her hands shook.

"Who, Alice? Who are they and why do they want her?" I felt my body vibrating like a tuning fork, and I was more than certain that Isabella was hearing every word of this. I silently begged her to stay where she was. If someone was coming for her, the safest place for her right now was _The Other_.

"I don't know. I think they know what she is, what she can do. We were alone, caught off guard."

Jasper stood behind her, his arms resting heavily on her shoulders, as if he were the only thing keeping her still and present.

"When?" I asked.

"I don't…I couldn't tell. There was nothing definitive. It was more like an errant thought than a well thought out plan. It wasn't solid."

"What makes you say that?" Sometimes Alice gleaned more than just what was presented to her. She _occasionally_ felt the thought or motivation behind a vision, as if she had a direct link.

"The perspective kept changing. One moment I was flying through the forest right along with them. The next I was face to face with them," she explained. Most often, she saw things from afirst person perspective, as if she were in the thick of it. Multiple points of view were not at all common for her.

The rest of the family had gathered outside my bedroom door, all listening intently to what Alice said, all lost in their own thoughts. I watched the vision play back in Alice's mind. Rage pushed through my veins, and venom pooled in my mouth at the sight of my angel on her knees. My eyes widen and locked on Alice as the last of the premonition played out.

"What was that, Alice? What happened? Did he…" Everything had gone black, ended so abruptly, as if Alice had lost her sight. As if she were cut off.

She wouldn't meet my eyes, and worry etched into the lines of her face. "I couldn't let them take her, Edward."

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

I listened to the pleas to stay where I was, safe and sound tucked inside the shell of another world. The rational part of me knew it was best, knew that it was the safest option. But the greater part of me, the part that belonged to Edward, belonged _with_ Edward pushed against the curtain and fought to break away from _The Other_. My instinct to protect him was all consuming. My wings itched with the need to wrap around him and whisk him away.

I stood silent and still and watched the second hand visions whirl through Edward's mind. They came in roughly cut frames, nothing really fitting together, like bad editing in a strange film. And then came the blackness—a sudden wash of nothing.

Alice would die. They would come for me when we were separated, outnumbered, and she would die.

I pushed forward, and for the first time ever, the film didn't give way to the next plane. It remained intact, bouncing back like rubber, like thick cling wrap sealing me in. Again, I pushed against the wall, desperate to stand next to Edward, terrified of what was coming, and eager to defend what I'd come to love. Alice would not cease to be because of _me_.

"God damn it!" I shouted, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. I tried again, pushing against it, trying to force some small split or tear in the barrier, but it remained smooth and intact. I crumpled to the floor, realizing I was far too weak to transition again so soon. I would have no choice but to stand by and watch.

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

Seven stewing vampires, myself included, paced the floors of the house, tossing ideas around. Emmett was eager to lay his hands on whatever was coming. The thought of a fight excited him. Pictures of broken bodies and vampires set to burn ran wild through his head.

Carlisle, Esme, and I thought it best to run. Isabella could easily join us when she was fully charged and feeling better. Staying, to me, wasn't an option, but Jazz, Alice, and Rose thought otherwise.

"We know this house, this property inside out. If they're coming, let them come, but let it be where we have some sort of advantage," Jazz argued. Admittedly, I saw the logic in it. I hated the logic, but I understood it.

"Nothing I saw gave me a sense of time or place. If we run, who's to say they won't follow. If we stay here, draw them to us, at least we won't be caught off guard somewhere in the fucking Vancouver wildness."

"Fucking hell," I said, palming my face and gritting my teeth.

"She's right, Edward. I know you want what's best for Isabella, that you want to keep her safe, but running now might mean running forever. Do you want that for her?" Rosalie asked, leaning against the kitchen door frame, her arms folded across her chest.

"I want her safe and alive!" I scowled at the blonde vampire, wanting nothing more than to stomp my feet like a petulant child. Esme's inner thoughts broke through my perturbed state and I zeroed in on her face.

"_How do they know what she is? Have they been watching? Listening?_"

"Possibly," I said, nodding at Esme from across the room.

"_If they were able to get that close to you without being detected, who's to say—_" she thought, her eyes trained on my face, but her careful posture was relaxed, betraying nothing.

"They aren't right now?" I spoke, looking around the room at my confused family.

She tucked herself closer to Carlisle and gave me a quick, but small nod.

I took the note book Alice had been sketching in off the dining room table and quickly jotted a note.

_**How do they know what she is? Esme thinks it's possible that they've been watching and listening to us.**_

I chucked the note book across the table and waited for each of them to read it. Without warning, Emmett tossed the football he'd been handling at the dining room wall. All eyes turned to him.

"This is bullshit! You wanna run, fine, go. I'll wait right here, take my chances." He stormed out of the room and seconds later the loud sounds of guns firing filled the house. He'd turned on the TV.

"_If someone scooped the angel's clothes without being seen or heard, they've got skills. Like supernatural, freaky disappearing act type skills. And if they're watching we need to be covert, man._"

The man made perfect sense. He jacked up the volume, not to drown us out, not because he was pissed, but to give us the opportunity to devise a plan.

"Ignore him like we normally would one his juvenile outbursts. Emmet's given us the opportunity to discuss a game plan."

"You're welcome," he whispered from the other room and Rosalie smiled.

"He also believes that at least one of these vampires is talented. Skills, he said, they have skills," I explained in a low voice.

Carlisle cocked his head to the side. "Invisibility, perhaps? Or some form of it."

"Is that even possible?" Rose asked.

"I can't see why not. Edward and Jasper's gifts steam from a similar human trait, the ability to read people, perception. But it manifested differently in each of them. Alice had a pure and true physic talent before she was turned, and it amplified. Jane…Jane can make you believe you're burning from the inside out. I don't see how this is beyond the realm of possibility." Carlisle looked pensive and his mind reeled with the possibilities.

"So how do we fight what we can't see?" Esme asked, her eyes flooded with worry. She wasn't big on the stay and fight plan, but when it came to her family, Esme was no doubt the most fierce vampire I'd ever seen. Her family would not be divided, not if she could help it.

"I don't think that's going to be an issue," Jasper piped up. "If you're balls are big enough to charge a full coven of vampires—talented vampires—you're cocky enough to _want_ them to know who's coming for them."

"Yup," Emmett agreed from the living room.

"We don't know that it's a matter of invisibility…evasion maybe." Carlisle pulled a chair away from the table and gestured for his wife to sit. _"To go unnoticed, unseen…very possible,"_ he thought, his finger absently tracing the stitching on Esme's yellow blouse.

We all stood quiet, planning and plotting in our own heads, but it was Emmett's thoughts that caught my attention. "_Rope-a-dope_," he thought.

"Explain that to me, Em."

I heard him flipping through the channels, likely looking for something else with big guns, big explosions, and big boobs. I knew my brother, and his taste in movies; as long as something went "boom" be it gun, car, or a pretty blonde, he was happy. He found what he was looking for, and I heard the call of John McClane burst from the speakers.

"_So we're staying here, right? What if we pulled a bait and switch? We call on a couple friends, Charlotte and Pete maybe. Make it look like Esme and Carlisle took off trying to draw the invis-vamp out and away from camp Cullen. We're all chill and calm as fuck believing the plan worked because Alice 'saw_'_ it. It'll look like the family's divided, weak. But we're all right here, waiting."_

For a moment, I stared in Em's general direction, stunned. "I never thought I'd say this, but Em's fucking brilliant." I explained his plan to the others and saw a look of approval on Jasper's face.

"This will work," Jazz said confidently. "They'll be expecting five vampires and a weak angel." His grin grew.

"_And, dude, it probably wouldn't hurt if you hit that angel juice again_," Emmett spoke to me. "_She super-sized your hearing the first time. Couldn't hurt_."

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**End Notes:**

**Poor Isabella is stuck in _The Other_. Don't worry, we'll hear from her soon. **

**Fic Rec: **

_**In Case of Emergency**_** (OS) by araeo:** _Bella's getting over a bad break-up and her friends know just how to help. Especially Edward - he's all too happy to help her forget her ex. A story of mistakes, Mary Jane, and maybe a miracle. *3rd Place Judges' Score, High Times Contest* _

**If you've never read anything by araeo, please go do so right the fuck now. Her Bella's kill me with their inner chatter (often lady part chattering, see Work in Progress to get a taste of that). Alright, that's all for now. Hit up the review box and put a grin on my face.**

_**~MissJanuary**_


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Still don't this stuff, but I recently bought a new iPod, so I get points for that. **

**Come play with me on Twitter JanuarysFiction. My wonderful beta is Maxipoo1024, and she's got a new story out called Hell's Bells. You should go read it.**

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_**Chapter 14**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

Edward closed the door of his bedroom, and with his hands tucked into his pockets, he glided over to the white couch and propped himself up with his journal and a pen.

"_I know you're here_," he spoke to me silently.

He tapped the pen to the open, blank page, and I moved around him, perched over his shoulder like the proverbial "_angel on your shoulder._" He wrote and I read.

**I know you were listening, and you know what Alice saw. **

**Stay where you are for now until you're strong enough to shift again. **

**Friends: Peter, Charlotte, and Bree (she's tiny and brunette like Alice) are on their way. They're playing decoy. Esme, Carlisle, and Alice will remain here, hidden. The family will look divided with half its members fleeing. **

"**Alice" will call from the road, tell us her vision changed, and that leaving worked. We stay, get comfortable, and play the role of the victors. We wait.**

He closed his eyes and showed me the consequence of the decision. It was Alice's vision. The vampires still came, moving through the forest like a force of nature, but the angle was different, like it was being shot from another camera. _Curious_. The picture shifted suddenly, and I took note that it wasn't as harsh this time around. The cut from one scene to the next wasn't the jerky, blurry mess it was the first time Edward relayed it.

I was still on my knees with a blonde, sadistic looking vampire looming over me, but now I radiated power, force, and something about my posture was laced with tension and anticipation. I looked ready for him, eager even.

It shifted again and my heart gripped tight inside my chest when it faded out. Alice was safe? Spared? Tears pricked my eyes, but never fell. Their choices altered the course of events, even if in the slightest way, it had changed and my friend would be spared. My pulse pushed quick and hard with relief.

He tapped the page again.

**I'm not sure how much they know about **_**The Other**_**, but I think it's safe to assume that they don't know that you can see them, follow them even. Feeling like going super spy, little angel?**

I chuckled and a devious grin curled my lips. I was most certainly up of the task if it meant keeping this family safe.

**If they're listening and watching, I don't want to give them any information about you—ergo the journal. Sitting alone in my room, seemingly staring at the walls would look a tad suspicious. So would rambling aloud to myself. Our aim is to keep things natural looking. **

He paused and took in a deep, not exactly necessary, breath and then an impish smile stretched from ear to ear.

**Emmett had a thought…something I'm not all that opposed to.**

A soft growl rumbled in his chest, and I'm not gonna lie—because I'm an angel and that would be wrong—the sound went directly to my pussy. I blushed a little at the thought and to be honest the word. I'd never used it before, never really thought it before.

_Thank God he can't hear me over here. _

**He thinks we should "swap fluids" again. Your blood enhanced my abilities, and my venom seemed to do the same to you. I plan on discussing it with Carlisle, but I don't see the harm in having the upper hand. **

His head raced with thoughts of my blood pumping through his system, the taste of it on his tongue, the sight of it spilling from my body. Quickly, he adjusted himself and let out a sound of frustration. Clearly, he was in favour of this little plan. I honestly had no qualms with Edward using me that way. I was more than a little curious as to what the next hit would result in, not to mention what his venom would in turn do to me.

I looked back at my once glorious wings. Their colour had faded some, and the once thick, heavy feathers had begun to wear like a well worn shirt, the material becoming flimsy and ill-fitting. The things that made me divine were slowly being stripped from me, but I knew as long as I had some modicum of divine energy left in me, his venom, Edward's life source, would do me no harm. I wasn't so sure that would always be the case.

_**~IV~**_

For two days, I watched, locked behind the world that, until recently, I called home. I watched Edward go about his day as if everything was just as it should be. Every day he wrote to me in his journal or shared his thoughts while he drove to school. Sometimes he relayed the thoughts of other family members while he sat reading.

I kept tabs on the hidden Cullen members, listening to their quiet conversations in the shelter beneath the house.

For two days, I hovered around the forest surrounding the house, watching a pale, beautiful, redheaded vampire lithely pitch herself from tree to tree. I watched her watch the Cullens. I watched her relay the news that the family was divided. Half were running in hopes of keeping Alice safe from destruction, and the other full-heartedly believing they were safe.

The more I watched, the greater I understood how this creature had escaped the notice of not one, but two supernatural beings—distracted or otherwise. It appeared that this vampire, like Alice, like Jazz, was in fact gifted. Emmett had been right again. Though her gift wasn't as impressive as invisibility, she most certainly had a talent for evasion. She moved quickly and hid so well that spotting her in the dark woods was more like a fucking game of _Where's Waldo_. She was slick and on more than one occasion, I watched her artfully dodge a pack of giant wolves, as if anticipating their every move.

Late in the evening, I followed her back to her tiny roaming coven of vampires and listened.

"So you truly believe this creature…this _angel_ can enhance our abilities?" The tall vampire spoke with such a condescending tone I wanted to smack his face off his hard skull. It was clear he didn't hold much belief in the existence of angels.

"I told you, Laurent," she seethed, "he can hear her thoughts. Something he _couldn't_ do before."

I listened to them bicker and argue over the possibility of divine beings walking among them and was struck stupid with boredom. Their inane chatter was wearing on my nerves.

Occasionally, I would push against the film surrounding me only to find it wasn't ready to give just yet. So I waited, pulling energy to me, and allowing it to build, piece by piece and block by block like stacking Legos one on to the next. But just like any tower, the structure was precarious, and if I didn't expend some of that energy soon, I'd crash. The boredom was making me twitchy.

Feeling antsy and trapped, I decided to visit Dara. I closed my eyes and willed my slowly fading wings to find her. A jolt ran through my body, and I opened my eyes. I wasn't standing in front of a small, dark hair girl. I was right where I'd been two seconds ago—hovering in the woods listening to the assholes bent on a capturing an angel. I pushed again, with the same result: asshole vampires, woods, no Dara. It felt like a door had been slammed in my face and a bold _Access Denied_ signed posted on it.

Dara was no longer my Charge, and as soon as that realization set in, a calm settled in the pit of my stomach. Dara was safe, happy, and guarded. A soft smile took over my face as I thought about the little girl. I'd been so worried about her and her adjustment to her new life, but the warmth that spread through my wings, touching each tip, each feather, told me she was safe.

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

I paced my room like some mad, caged animal. It'd been four days since I'd seen Isabella and to say I wasn't fairing well, was a fucking understatement. I flopped down on my bed and wondered—for the hundredth time in two hours—when she'd be returning.

Though I'd never experienced the pull of an addiction before, I was certain the itch, the pacing and fidgeting, and the single track mind were symptoms of withdrawal. I felt bound and captive, and _every_ second of every day since she'd gracelessly slipped into _The Other _was consumed by thoughts of her: my angel, my salvation, my addiction. I wanted my hands on her skin. I wanted her warm lips pressed to mine and our bodies curling together. Pictures of dark brown hair and soft feathers flashed through my mind, taunting me, showing me what was missing, what I wanted more than I anything. Her absence created a pure and nearly uncontrollable craving. Carlisle was certain that her blood played a small part in that.

We'd had time to discuss the impact the exchange between Isabella and I had caused. Though both Carlisle and me were certain her blood would not harm me, at least not in the long run, we were also quite sure that continued ingestion would irrevocably change us_ both_. That I would be changed in some manner by Isabella's sweet, hallowed blood, and she, in turn, would be altered by the venom that seeped into her system. We'd already witnessed what a small amount could do.

What we were a little fuzzy on was the extent of the effects. Would my venom eventually burn through and turn her? Her wings were fading, and that meant that she wouldn't always have the supernatural on her side to protect her from what I was and what she _could_ become. Did she want that? Immortality wasn't exactly a new concept for her, but bloodlust was. The urge to rip away at something until it bled was hard to fight, and I though didn't want that for her, if that was what she chose, I would gladly usher into this life with me.

I wanted her beside me…under me, above me. I wanted the taste of her on my tongue again. I wanted to feel her tremble and watch her eyes flutter as she fought to keep them open.

"Fuck!" I grumbled, palming my hard-on—another side effect of my new addiction.

I felt it before I heard it. The air around me displaced, sucking all the oxygen from the room. There was a flutter, another ripple in the space around me, and then the violent burst that followed Isabella into the room.

She stood, leaning casually against the wall, staring at me, lip folded between her teeth and her hands tucked behind her back. Her transition had never been so forceful before.

My eyes roamed from toes to hair line, studying every single line, freckle, and nuance she had to offer.

"Miss me?" she whispered, chewing on the inside of her cheek and shifting her weight. The movement made her look both impatient and seductive, and it fucking killed me.

I was up and across the room before she had time to squeeze her thighs together. "You have no idea," I said. Menace dripped from my voice, and her eyes lit up with salacity as my arms braced the wall, trapping her.

"I heard every thought. Saw every scandalous fantasy. I've got a pretty good idea." Her teeth pushed harder into the tender flesh, bringing colour to her already pink lip.

Her scent was strong, heady, and very hard to ignore. I inhaled, trailing my nose up the side of her neck. A shiver ran through body. "Don't move a fucking inch," I growled, pushing my body against her.

She pulled in a choppy breath and let her eyes slip shut. She became perfectly still, letting the wall hold her up as I ran my fingers over her bare shoulders. "If you're not…healed, Isabella, _leave_. Go back to _The Other_." I exhaled, my breath fanning over her collarbone, kicking up goosebumps in its wake. "Control isn't something I can promise."

I brought my eyes to meet her, luminescent brown to burning yellow. Her face flushed and she let the air rush from her lungs in one hot breath. Her answer was quick and effective. Her small hand grasped the back of my neck tightly, and with the force of a creature much bigger than herself, she pulled me forward. Her lips were not sweet and gentle; they were full of that same crave and want that had been fueling me for days. They moved against me like someone chasing a high, desperate and needy. Addicted.

The grey dress she wore dropped to the floor, and she stood, back to the wall, naked and so glorious, I could hardly take in the sight without wanting to weep. Her legs parted as my fingers traced her hips and she trembled.

"I don't want your control, Edward." Her hands pushed through my hair, and in a brave, insanely sexy move, she gave my head a gentle push, directing me.

I dropped to my knees to worship the creature in front of me, letting my fingers trip and dance up her thighs. I knew what she wanted from me, and I wasn't about to make her beg. I ran my hands around the back, cupping her ass in my hands and pulling her toward me.

Venom filled my mouth, and my body hummed like a struck tuning fork. I inhaled the thick scent, licking my lips. Her hand remained on my head, fingers tightly woven into my hair, and when my mouth met the wet lips of her pussy, her tiny fist gave a sharp tug.

Her breath came in heavy, loud pants as I licked and sucked. I heard a soft thump when I pushed a finger inside her—her head bouncing off the wall. A moan ripped from her when I dug my fingers into her waist, holding her up and controlling the roll of her hips.

"Oh fuck," she grunted, her hand gripping and directing.

I picked her up and moved her to the bed, her legs hanging over the side as I knelt before her. She was close, and I was quickly losing the battle with my control. I looked up at her, begging for her permission and her understanding.

"Yes," she hissed, one hand fisting the sheets, the other my hair. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the hair pulling was her new favourite thing.

Kissing her inner thigh, I planted my hands on her hips and gently nipped at the sensitive flesh, testing her reaction. Her body quaked and she let out a soft groan. Licking my lips, I eyed the thick vain throbbing between her legs, and my need for her blood kicked into high gear. A loud growl tore from deep inside my chest and my teeth sunk into warm, malleable flesh. Blood flooded my mouth, and Isabella screamed, clutching me closer. I'd pushed her over the edge, and as her blood ran down my throat, I felt her body jerk. Loud, titillating sounds filled the room.

I lapped at the wound I created, my tongue making a lazy trail up her thigh. Blood mixed with salty, sweet cum and the taste of it almost burned my tongue in the most pleasurable way.

"_That_ taste is something I'll _never _wipe from my memory." I grinned, and moved up her body to kiss her mouth. Tears threatened to spill over, and her face was sweaty and flushed red. The kiss was slow and deep and it hummed with love and desire.

"Christ, that's only pre-game," she mused, still sounding breathless. "How do humans do this without fucking imploding?"

It was a valid question. Did humans crave each other this much or was this something forged in blood and venom? "I don't know," I answered honestly. I moved us up the bed, letting her twine her silky legs with mine.

We talked about everything she'd seen in the four days she was gone, and she assured me that for the moment, we were safe. The vampires, who she now knew to be Victoria, Laurent, and James, were feasting on innocent lives just outside of Seattle when she ripped back into this plane.

When my muscles locked, I knew her blood was working its mojo on my body.

"Ahh shit, Edward, are you all right?" she asked, running her worried hands over my chest.

"Yup," I breathed out. "Just feels like a damned cow is sitting on my chest. It'll pass." I nodded and took her hand in mine, waiting for the pain to release me. Our best guess told us that this wouldn't last long, and that her reaction to my venom might come hours from now. She settled in next to me, watching my muscles contract and relax without any say so on my part.

Ten minutes later, I sat up, looking at Isabella.

"Well?" she said, poking me in the chest.

"I'm not sure. I can still hear your thoughts…" I flexed my muscles and everything felt just fine. "Last time it enhanced a pre-existing skill so maybe—" I jumped off the bed and out the open window to my right.

I started moving and it didn't take long for me to realize that I wasn't just running anymore. I was traveling. Just like Isabella. I'd moved so fast I hadn't noticed how far and where I'd traveled to until I forced myself to stop. In the quick blink of an eye, I'd shifted from Forks, Washington to Beaver Lake. By car that trip was about a twenty minute drive. On a good day, I could make that trip in about eight minutes. This had taken me no longer than ten _seconds_. Just as swiftly, I shifted back to my room.

I couldn't help the laugh that rumbled in my chest at the sight of a naked angel, wrapped in sheets and blinking like an owl.

"So you can shift? Travel, I mean?" she asked, patting the empty space next to her.

"So it appears." I crawled in, hovering over her. Her face had lost some of the pink, but I could still smell the sweat on her.

"I feel like I'm waiting for a Jack-in-the-box to spring." She huffed and pulled me down on her. She loved the weight of me holding her down; I could hear it in her thoughts.

I opened a book and read to her to ease her reeling mind. When Alice's voice wafted into my head, I stopped. I watched the vision Alice had of Emmett flying through the air like a rag doll.

"_Oh this is impressive, Edward. I'd tell her to get dressed_," she thought.

Isabella dressed quickly and we joined the family in the den.

"In three…two…one—" Alice counted down with her fingers and when she reached one, Isabella crumpled to the floor like a wet noodle, only this time she remained fully alert.

* * *

**End Notes:**

**This fucking chapter, guys, I'll tell ya. Two weeks it took me. I think we can all agree that writer's block sucks donkey balls!**

**On the happy fun side, I have a rec for ya'll. **_**Professionally Personal **_**by DH78:**_**Aspiring tattoo artist, Bella Swan works a nine-to-five job at Cullen Energy, Inc. When forced to work with the cold, elusive, and very hot CEO, she discovers they have something in common. Can she keep things professional personal? E/B Humor/Romance.**_

**Reviews make me tingle!**

_**~MissJanuary**_


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: SM owns Twilight. We know this shit. But what you don't know is that I have the sniffles and it's making me a little grumpy.**

**Playing with angels and vampires is hard work when the fuckers won't talk to you. My apologies in the posting delays, but as much as I would like to say I control the characters, anyone who writes will tell you different.**

**Max, your mad beta skills make me tingle. Thanks for being awesome. The chick even edits my Author's Notes! **

**There's more news at the bottom, race ya…**

* * *

_**Chapter 15**_

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

My body slumped to the floor and every ounce of energy I had before had been drained. I could feel it trickling down my body, leaving me numb. I looked up at Alice. There wasn't a single worry line on her face. In fact she was smiling. "What did you see?"

"I saw_ that_ dummy…" she pointed to Emmett "…go flying across the room."

Emmett's brow furrowed. "Why? What did I do?" he whined, keeping a safe distance.

"Nothing. You just…flew," Alice explained. Kind of.

"So they get all randy, play the fluid exchange, and _I_ get tossed around like a rag doll? Not fair." Em crossed his arms over his massive chest, and for the first time I doubted Alice. As a Guard I knew I had some decent strength behind me, but I was no longer a Guard. I was _barely_ divine, and chucking a giant vampire around the house seemed like a bit of a stretch.

"Super strength?" Rose mused.

"Maybe." Jasper walked into the room and folded himself into the love seat closest to me, eyeing me. "Curious, though…" He sat forward, elbows on his knees, and studied me.

"Tell us what you can do, big brother," Alice goaded Edward as she pushed Jasper's face back with the palm of her hand, forcing him to sit back before she took a seat on his lap.

"Travel. Like she does." Edward swept a stray hair away from my face.

"Like shift?" Rose asked, looking a little dubious.

"I think so. I mean I took off running, and in eight seconds flat I found myself at Beaver Lake."

Emmett snickered like a twelve hearing the word _doody, _and I rolled my eyes.

"So you've got wings now, Eddie?" Emmett made a ridiculous flailing gesture with his hands.

"No, and if you call me _Eddie_ again, I'll disassemble you so thoroughly you'll never put yourself back together, Humpty."

I chuckled. Their sibling banter was something I always found endearing. It far outshined _what_ they were, even in their darker moments when human lives were lost. It was one of the reasons I didn't end Edward when he went all rebel without a clue and used his mind reading skills to hunt the truly disgusting. Every time he sunk his teeth into a human, he thought of his family. He thought of the love and compassion they'd shown him. He'd felt guilt and shame for what he'd done, and I knew without a doubt that he would find his way back to this life, to his family.

"So the question is," Jazz said, shifting Alice in his arms, "is her blood enhancing _your_ abilities or transferring hers?" We all turned to him, and he continued. "The first time you drank from her you could hear her thoughts, which is something you couldn't do before, but Isabella already had that ability…to hear her Charge. And now you can shift, which I guess is an extension of your speed, but I wonder if…"

Alice jumped in. "Try to shift without moving first. Like Izzy does. Close your eyes and think of a place."

"Izzy?" I cocked an eyebrow at my friend.

"Don't like it?"

I shook my head, my face a little sour.

"You think I'm taking on her abilities?" Edward asked, looking from me to Jasper.

He shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe it's all just fucking random."

"Worth a shot," Alice said. "Besides, it'll be a while yet before wings here gets her land legs back."

Edward looked down at me, shrugged, and kissed the tip of my nose. "_Maybe you did give me wings, love_," he thought as his eyes slipped shut.

Seconds later, I was sitting on the floor alone. Edward had vanished and a wide smile broke on the face of every vampire in the room. He was in fact shifting. I'd felt the pull in the air around me.

"Holy fucking hell," Rose stammered, looking around the room.

_**~IV~**_

**EPOV**

The moment I thought of where I wanted to go, I was there, but let it be known, shifting was fucking rough business. My body felt as if it had been drained of everything that made it solid, and when I _landed_ it all just plopped back into place, jarring me and making me feel…squishy.

"Holy shit," I said, bracing my hands on my knees and breathing deep. "Don't know how she does that." I picked my head up and looked around, amazed to see that I was standing in Rosehill Cemetery, feet firmly planted—for the most part—between the graves of Edward and Elizabeth Masen.

My eyes shifted around, hoping no one had witnessed my graceless landing. The sun had just set and not a soul was seen, which worked out well for me because landing in the middle of a populated area, sparkling like the Fourth of fricken July, hadn't really occurred to me before I leaped into nowhere. I sat down on the green, cool grass and ran my hands over it. "I shouldn't stay long," I spoke to the two silent graves flanking me. "She'll worry if I'm gone too long." I took a deep breath and told my parents about the wonderful thing that flew into my life. This wasn't the first time I'd visited their grave, but it was the first time I had something significant to tell them. I leaned in and whispered her name, letting it fall from my lips like a lost prayer.

"I love her, and I plan to keep her for as long as she'll have me." I traced my fingers over the dates that marked the beginning and end. "I thought this life was a punishment. One long, despicable day that threatened to drag on forever. I hated the very thought of it."

I looked at my mother's headstone and smiled. "Thank you for listening to that whisper. Only the truly blessed find their life's purpose, and you gave me that opportunity." I stood up, brushed the tiny blades of grass from my pants, and closed my eyes again.

I felt the air combust around me, and I braced for my body's pitch through time and space. Molecules stretched and separated, and again I was left feeling much like a jellyfish.

_**~IV~**_

**IPOV**

The room was silent as we waited. He came stumbling back in like a drunk, his footing completely off as he lurched forward, nearly hitting the ground before Rose reached out and steadied him.

"Are you okay?" I asked, trying to stand but still feeling far too weak.

"How the fuck do you do that and _not_ face plant?" Edward tugged at the hem of his shirt, righting it. Snickers filled the room. It was a rare thing indeed to catch Edward off guard, and I had to admit that the look on his face was a tad amusing.

"Angels are born travellers, Edward. It's innate," I told him. "Much like breathing, we just do it." I waved him back to me, and he picked me up off the floor and carried me to the couch. "Where did you go?"

"Chicago. I visited my parents' graveside."

"So you_ can_ fly?" Emmett sounded far too excited by that prospect.

"No. Isabella's wings, though we can't see them, have weight to them. Something she can feel and move consciously. I don't feel any change in my mass. Perhaps that's why I couldn't…steer, for lack of a better word?" he asked, looking into my eyes.

"Definitely possible." I nodded.

"So you're not going all Divine Ed on us, then, right?" Rose asked, the humour practically dripping from her words. "'Cause you're already an insufferable vampire. Add a little God-complex and I don't know that I could take it." She quirked her brow and smiled.

"No. But Carlisle's right. Her blood changes me." Edward pulled me tight against him, and I could feel it. Warmth.

His body had always been cold as marble, but now I felt warmth radiating from him. I looked up at him. "Maybe more than you thought. Edward. You're _warm_. Not like human warm, but damn close."

Alice flew off of Jasper's lap and stood next to Edward, her hand on his forehead like a worried momma checking for a temp. "She's right."

"Interesting," Carlisle said, finally making an appearance.

"Does this mean he's becoming human?" Esme pondered, ghosting into the room behind Carlisle.

Carlisle thought long and hard, pacing back and forth before answering. He checked my temperature, which remained steady at ninety-three degrees. Same as it had been since the last time I'd allowed Edward to bite me. After several minutes he went to the kitchen and retrieved a knife.

"Hold out your hand," he said, looking down at Edward.

Without skipping a beat he held his hand out to Carlisle, and I watched as he dragged the pointed tip of the blade across the surface of Edward's palm. The blade gave a metallic squeal before the tip broke away. We all stared at Edward's hand—no lines, scratches or injury. No indication that the knife had ever touched him.

"No," he finally answered. "Though it's no doubt changing you, strengthening you, vampire you remain—as far as I can tell." He lovingly patted his adoptive son's head and looked at me with fondness. "You are an amazing creature."

As we waited for my strength to return, Edward filled the family in on what the rouge vampires were up to. We'd decided to keep things as they were. I would come and go from _The Other_, until my wings ceased to be, and I could no longer access that world, appearing as though I were still guarding Dara. As far as I knew, they were not aware that I was Falling and would soon be all tapped out. Alice, Carlisle, and Esme would continue to hide out in the cellar under the house, waiting for the moment Victoria decided to attack.

Alice's vision remained consistent; she and the rest of the Cullens would be safe, and that thought took my worries far away. Even if I perished, they would survive and that was enough for me.

I'd almost fallen asleep in Edward's gentle embrace when my body began to hum with energy. I sat up, watching my body for some sort of outward, visible sign of what might be happening inside me. But there was nothing. I stood up and stretched.

"Feeling better?" Edward asked, standing next to me.

I bobbed my head. "Better."

"Think you can take me, Wings?" Emmett rubbed his hands together, grinning like the cat that got the cream.

"I have no idea." It was honest enough. Though I felt better, I didn't feel any stronger than I had. I turned to Alice, my hands on my hips and my brows furrowed close together. "So he just flew?"

"Yup."

"And you have no idea how that happened?"

"Nope."

"Not helpful, Alice," I said, huffing.

"Sorry. I'll work on that." She walked past me, flicking my ear as she went. She stood next to Emmett, looking between him and me as if she were trying to figure out some kind of complex math equation. "Maybe if you think about moving him, he'll move?" She shrugged and stepped back.

"Doubtful," I mumbled, picturing Emmett flying through the air. Nothing. The lug went nowhere. Not that I'd expected him to. I shrugged.

"Now, where's your _I believe_ spirit, Tinkerbell?" Rose asked, eyeing me with amusement.

"Rose, darling…" I said, cocking my head. "Eat it."

She cackled and snorted, and it was the least attractive I'd ever seen her look.

"I'm just saying that maybe you need to put a little of that faith of yours to good use."

"Couldn't hurt," Edward admitted in a soft voice, rubbing my arm.

I rolled my eyes then let them slide shut. I concentrated on the man standing across from me and moving him. I peeked, opening one eye when nothing crashed or cussed.

"Low on fairy dust?" Emmett clucked, his eyes daring me to move him.

"Em, you're standing in front of a Falling angel whose powers are obviously a little wonky, and you're goading. Not smart."

Jasper stepped forward. "Maybe that's exactly what you need."

"You were a Guard after all," Edward said, obviously picking up on Jasper's thoughts. He snatched a pencil and a small note pad off the coffee table before moving to Emmett's side. "This would be much easier if you didn't have super hearing." He scowled at me and scribbled something on the note pad and handed it to Emmett. "So Guard."

Em smiled and nodded once before running at me full-tilt boogie.

Before Emmett reached me, before my scream broke off, he was reeling through the air and crashing into the wall behind him. I stood shocked at the sight while Jasper helped Emmett off the floor.

Emmett's laugh boomed around the room as he dusted himself off. "So that's the ticket."

"What?" I asked, my voice shaky but annoyed.

"You need to feel threatened," Jasper said in smooth, even tone.

* * *

**End Notes:**

**So there's this contest that I entered. The Dirty Talkin' Edward Contest. So far there ya 27 entries. You should all head over to FFN and get dirty! Don't forget to vote when the polls open. **

**Next I've got 2 rec's for you. If you're not reading the charmingly funny **_**Theories of Bellativity by kiki7**_**, my question you, dear reader, is why the fuck not? The next is **_**Inappropriate Touching by jenjiveg. **_**They're both a mess, but it works for them. Now go, get the fuck on it and do some reading! **

_**Sloppy kisses**_

_**~Jen**_


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: I don't own it, I just play with it. No infringement intended.**

**I'm on Twitter- JanuarysFiction, the curvy chick with a penchant for chocolate, vodka, and tattoo porn. **

**My beta is the lovely Maxipoo. **

**I'd like to say hello and hi there to some of the new readers that have joined me recently. I believe I have the Fictionators to thank for that, and possibly the generous pimping of a few wonderful readers. Wet, smooshy kisses to you all! **

**I know how you all hate my cliffie fascination, so I thought I'd be kind to you and not haul you through 2K words just to leave you standing all lonely on that fucking cliff. So stay with me folks, long(ish) chapter. Blame yourselves. :)**

* * *

_**Chapter 16**_

_**~IV~ **_

**IPOV**

Emmett's face morphed from handsome and dimpled to pure menace in a split second. He barreled toward me, growling and bearing his glistening, venom coated teeth. He went directly for my neck, his thick fingers reaching for me. Edward hadn't played nice when he divulged my late night confession and used against me. The thought of those, or any other, hands grabbing hold of me freaked me out more than a little bit. Divine ass-kicker or not, being deprived of air was a scary damn thing.

I held my hands up to stave his attack and let out a throaty scream. And then evil Emmett was gone.

_**~IV~**_

Apparently, I was a shield—at least according to Carlisle. He was quite certain that had I been human, this gift would have manifested in some way or other. Though, he was just as convinced that it would not have been so...advanced. Given that I was a Guard the talent seemed rather suiting, and a little comical.

It took about five minutes to discern that my new found skill was hardwired to my emotions. If I felt threatened, someone went flying. If I was pissed, someone went flying. Jasper tapped into the assembly of emotions available to him and poured them into me without warning and waited on my reaction.

Anger, fear, and a sense of danger seemed to trigger the bubble. Bubble—that was what I was calling it. When the emotions became overwhelming and needed to be let out, a bubble would begin to swell inside me. That bubble would burst, pushing outward. The bubble was responsible for Emmett flying across the room and destroying the wall behind him. We'd have to fix that.

That same _bubble_ pushed Rose against the tree in the backyard and held her there until Jasper called off the emotional hell hounds. When the hate he'd inflicted on me began to recede, the bubble pulled inward and released Rose.

"I'm curious, Isabella," Carlisle said, sitting on a picnic table, watching me throw his 'children' around with amusement. "Could you shield someone else? Push it away and perhaps protect someone other than yourself?"

I shrugged. "Hell if I know."

An eagerness lit his face. "Perhaps we could try?"

As much fun as I was having heaving vampires around the yard, I wanted quiet. I wanted to check on Victoria and her band of immortal boobs, and then I wanted to lie quiet in Edward's arms. "Another time. I want to take the shifting vampire over there on a field trip." I placed my hand on Carlisle's shoulder and gave him a gentle smile.

"But of course," he said, standing.

I sauntered over to Edward and clasped my hand in his. "I'll steer," I said with a wink. I let my eyes shut and concentrated on the red headed menace that had been stalking my family.

Before Edward could protest, we shifted. I pulled him into _The Other_ so that we could stay hidden.

"I...I didn't think could I exist here," he stammered, looking for all the world like a young boy caught in the girls locker room.

"When you shift, you pass through _The Other_, if only briefly," I explained, watching his face.

His gaze was locked on my wings—wings he never imagined he'd see with his own two eyes. Awe was painted all over his beautiful face.

"Isabella, they're beautiful." He reached out and gently stroked the delicate feathers with the back of his hand. "Amazing."

"They've faded, Edward. They're not nearly as impressive—"

"Shut up, angel. I'm having a moment here, and your whining is ruining it for me." He gave me a cross look and then winked.

Images he'd hoarded since the moment he realized what I was came flooding into his mind, and by proxy mine. Feathers and tendrils of deep brown hair swirling and mixing. An angel on her knees, wings spread out, looking up into green eyes. Interesting that he still pictured himself with those intoxicating kelly eyes.

"You really want that, don't you?" I asked, looking on as James and Victoria's blood coated lips mashed together.

"What man doesn't dream of a beautiful creature giving him head?" Edward smirked and let the image roll through his mind again.

"True enough. So it looks like they're done playing with their food."

"And moved on to playing with each other," Edward finished the thought for me.

I looked around for something, anything to indicate how far they'd traveled. "Do you know where we are?"

Edward looked around at his surroundings and gave a terse nod. "Sequim Bay State Park, just off the 101. About an hour and half from home."

"And how long would it take these colossal assholes to run it?" I tipped my head to the two vampires grinding against each other.

"About thirty minutes if they hustle. But with the way those two are going at it, I don't think they'll be leaving anytime soon." He snickered. "So where's contestant number three?"

"Laurent? Good question."

We turned and scanned the open landscape for the dark vampire, which was akin to looking for chalk in the snow. It had grown dark and the film surrounding us was not helping matters.

"I see what you mean now, about things being fuzzy. And the distractions. Is that...is that a faery?"

I followed his gaze and smiled. "Pixie actually, and I wouldn't get too close. They're cute, but they bite. Stings like a bitch." I watched his gaze follow the tiny silver winged beauty no more than five feet from him. His eyes shone with wonder.

"Love?" I grabbed his chin and turned his face toward me. "I know she's pretty, but could we please focus on the missing vampire?"

He gave me a big toothy grin and kissed my nose. "You go left, I'll go right."

"Great idea in concept, not so smart here." I took his hand and veered to the left. "Looks much the same, fucked up vision and interesting creatures aside, but this plane moves differently, remember?"

I'd once told him that bending time wasn't out of the question and that reaching back into the past to end his life, though it wouldn't have been easy, was certainly doable in this plane.

"Dimensions, planes, whatever the hell you want to call them, sit on top of or inside one another, but they don't all behave the same. Move slowly. Focus on where you're going. Look at the pixie; she hovers like I did when my wings would hold me. The creatures here move slowly because time moves in a very different way. Move too fast and hours will speed by. It's easy to get lost and forget yourself when hours or days zoom by like that."

Edward's grip on my hand tightened. "Duly noted."

We wandered further into the park, the trees becoming thicker. "There." I pointed to a form hunched low to the ground.

Laurent sat next to a stream, meticulously cleaning the blood from him clothing.

"Downfall of hunting," Edward said.

Suddenly, I pictured him in the blur of a hunt; moving quickly with deadly grace; all his muscles taut and bunched, ready to pounce; blood in the corner of his mouth, drops littering his crisp white T-shirt. Edward looked like a fucking God.

I'd seen him hunt on numerous occasions, but I'd always looked at it as an act of survival. Now, I saw the raw power in it. And it excited me.

"Where are—"

I put my hands on his chest and closed my eyes, focusing on his bedroom. When I opened my eyes, we stood in the mild of Edward's room, no longer in the park spying on the vampires bent on taking me for themselves. We lingered in _The Other, _perfectly hidden from everyone wandering the house. It felt sneaky being in the Cullen home with him yet safe from the eyes, and more importantly, the ears of his supernatural family.

"I feel like a teenager sneaking her boyfriend in," I confessed.

Edward took a good look around and quickly realized that he wasn't _quite_ home just yet. His eyes widened when my hands slipped down his torso and tugged open the fly of his jeans in one quick jerk of my wrist.

"Isabella—"

I held up my hand to silence him. "I know you battle with this. I hear it in your thoughts. You want it, but some tiny tucked away part of you sees the act as degrading. So I'll make this easy for you..." I dropped to my knees "…I want this. So please just shut up and enjoy this. Let _me_ enjoy it."

His hand cupped my chin, and his creamy, yellow eyes looked into mine. He looked stripped bare and honest. I liked that look on him. "You're a dangerous creature, Isabella."

My hands were steady and sure as I pulled him free. I let my hands explore him as I had before, watching in amazement as he grew hard in my hand.

Edward cleared his throat, and I looked up at him half expecting him to tell me to stop. "I don't how to broach this without being completely frank. My ejaculate...it'll be pure venom."

I continued to stare up at him, waiting for the bit of news that I hadn't anticipated. Humans had blood and tears and numerous other fluids that made them human; vampires had just the one.

When I didn't say anything, he continued. "You've only been exposed to small amounts. I'd venture to guess that this might yield a tad more."

"I'm well aware of that. We'll tell Emmett _nothing_. Way more fuel than I'm willing to give him." I tightened my grip on his cock. "Done talking?"

He moaned and his hips jerked.

_I'll count that as a yes. _

I moved closer and experimentally licked the tip. Edward quaked. It was there, kneeling before him and drawing him further into my mouth, that I realized the power I had. I might be the one on my knees, but it was Edward that was left vulnerable by the act.

_This is what he must have felt like with his lips pressed between my legs, _I thought as I let my tongue snake and move over his silky skin. I felt like I could destroy him but wanted nothing more than to please him. Every moan, grunt, and sigh felt like victory, and when he came I felt more divine in that moment than I ever had in my life as a Guard.

I swallowed what tasted like mint and cinnamon but burned like cold fire, and almost immediately I began to gasp. I could hear Edward by my side, panicking, of course. I pulled in a deep breath and worked to control my features before I spoke. "Please relax." It probably wasn't the most reassuring thing I could have said._ 'Baby, I'm okay, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Why don't you go knock back a whiskey and deer blood. I'm good here on the floor. No worries' _might have assuaged him just a little more.

Suddenly, my body arched and pain licked at every inch of my skin.

"Isabella, your skin..." His eyes frantically washed over my body again and again.

I looked at my arms and the skin had become so pale it was nearly completely translucent. Another jolt rocked my body, and I clenched my teeth together to keep from crying out.

"What's happening? What do you feel?"

I calmed my mind and reached out to him. "_It stings. Like the lash of a whip striking my body_."

"Oh, Christ." His mind was a flurry of worry and that insufferable self-loathing he defaulted to when something happened that he couldn't explain or fix.

He sat on the floor across from me, watching me, worrying for me, and condemning himself. I reached out, clasped my hands around his wrists like manacles, and pulled him towards me. "Shut. Up," I commanded.

The whip cracked again and my body writhed. The pain was nothing I'd ever felt before. It made my toes curl and the very surface of my skin tingle. It was intense and the single most disturbing thing about it was the pleasure that followed the sting.

I moaned when the bite receded, and I pulled Edward closer still. He sniffed the air and eyed me suspiciously as I braced myself for the next smack of pain.

"Isabella, if I didn't know any better—" He did know better. He could smell it on me.

I tucked my head into his chest, hiding my eyes from him. It embarrassed me that my body could draw pleasure from something that hurt so much. The dichotomy between the sensations was confusing, and I had no idea how I would, or even if I could, explain it to Edward.

"You don't have to," he whispered, kissing my hair. He'd tuned into my thoughts, and though I was grateful I would never have to speak it out loud, some small part of me still felt the bite of shame. "Don't, Isabella. There's nothing to be ashamed about. Rose came twice during her change." His fingers swept across my forehead, pushing tiny hairs away.

"What?" I was shocked. I wasn't there to witness Rose's transformation, so this was news to me.

"She'd fucking kill me if she knew I told you. Those lines can be so close, and vampires experience things to such extremes...it's not that uncommon."

"Oh God," I groaned as another bolt of pain ran through my body.

"What do you want me to do? What would make this easier for you?"

I pursed my lips, waiting out the burn. Relief came in a wave of bliss as my body relaxed. I took his hand and guided it between my legs. I preferred the pleasure, thank you very much, and if Edward could help me ride out the pain, then all the better. When his finger slipped inside me, my body was almost surprised by the intrusion, and I startled.

"Shh, sweet girl. Relax, just feel me." He dropped soft kisses to my face and hair while his fingers gently worked me.

There was no goal, no end game. I wasn't looking for release; it was merely a diversion from the hot licks of pain that cracked at the surface of my skin.

When Edward was a boy and was forced to take medicine—nothing more than a bitter tonic—his mother would distract him with a puppet she'd made from one of her stockings. She would speak in a ridiculous voice and make silly jokes while his father fed him the nasty concoction. It seemed like a lot of trouble to go through for one spoonful, but it made all the difference in the world to a five-year-old boy.

I remember watching that and thinking that the role of a parent wasn't much different from that of a Guard. Your sole purpose was to keep them safe from danger, and to a sick five-year-old that tonic was pure evil. So Elizabeth donned her wings, in the form of sock puppets and funny voices, and saved her son from feeling fear, if only for a few short moments.

After what felt like hours, it stopped. My skin returned to its normal pallor, minus the freaky translucent thing, and the whip ceased its relentless lashing. I was tired to the very core and wanted nothing more than to curl up in Edward's giant ass bed and dream away the next few days. With a little help from me, we shifted out of _The Other_ and landed safely in the middle of the aforementioned bed.

With all the care and concern of a lover, he stripped me bare and gently wiped down my sweaty body with a cold, wet cloth. "Arms up," he prompted as he slipped one of his white t-shirts over my drained body. He pulled the covers back and waited for me to climb in and get comfy before pulling it over us both.

Too tired to talk, I silently asked, "_So what Divinely Transmitted Disease do you think I contracted this time?_"

"_I'm working on a theory."_

"_Do share," _I thought as I snuggled closer to my vampire.

"_The first time you fell into some kind of comma, but strangely could hear everything. And it was your hearing that was affected. Second time you lost all strength, then whamo, insane shield skills."_

I had a pretty good idea where his musings were heading.

"_This time your skin and the pain." _Without saying another word, he grabbed my hand ran his nail along the surface of my palm.

I waited for the wound to open and the blood to pool, but it didn't.

He quirked an eyebrow and brought that hand to his mouth. This time he raked his sharp teeth very carefully across my skin. Nothing. "You skin's like mine. Not as impressionable anymore, but still soft."

I watched his face carefully and there was a hint of curiosity there. "Does...am I?"

"_Turned? No, I can still hear your heart beating and smell the blood in your veins. It'll just take more effort to get to now."_

I nodded and nuzzled into his broad, bare shoulder and quickly slipped into sleep.

_**~IV~**_

_The forest that surrounded me was dark, cold and sinister. Nothing like the green lush landscape that surrounded Forks. The trees loomed over me like an oppressive entity. I felt trapped even though the forest around me was wide open and not a single obstacle lay in my way. _

_My eyes darted around as I spun on my heels, fully expecting to come face to face with pure evil. But there was nothing. Panic surged through me and though I wanted nothing more than to run, my feet stuck firmly in place. I closed my eyes, willing the forest away. I jumped when something brushed my arm. Hesitantly, I peeled back my eyelids. The forest had brightened just enough for me to see what had brushed my arm._

_Feathers._

_Feathers fell from the trees like wayward leaves. _

_**~IV~**_

A scream tore through my mind, and I bolted up right. Voices, some angry, some taunting, floated up the stairs right along with the images Edward was sending me. He fed me images from every angle possible through the eyes and minds of his family.

Three red-eyed vampires stood in the centre of the living room. Alice, Carlisle, and Esme had come flying into the room and surrounded them, though they didn't seem the least bit unnerved by this.

In a swift movement, James grabbed Alice by the neck and pulled her to him. One hand formed a vice grip on her throat and the other arm wrapped tightly around her torso, his hand toying with a Zippo. He smiled a sick smile and licked the shell of Alice's ear.

I felt the rage pour out of Jasper like a thick fog. I prayed he would keep his wits about him and act every bit the military man I knew he was.

"The angel?" Victoria asked, her eyes trained on Edward.

"Upstairs." I saw through Esme's eyes the defiant set of his jaw and the way he tipped his head toward the winding staircase. His lips cracked and a devious, cunning smile played at the corners.

Before Victoria could spring into action, I pushed through _The Other _with such fury it shook the very foundation of the house. All ten vampires stood perfectly still, eyes wide and waiting. Seven smiles bloomed on the faces of seven yellow eyed vampires. They knew I was there, and they knew what was coming.

I stood behind James, watching as Victoria made tentative steps toward the staircase. When she reached the top and a groan of frustration ripped from her, I ploughed through the barrier like a wrecking ball, grabbing hold of the startled vampire and pulling him back into _The Other_ with me. Releasing him, I let him drop to the ground. His confusion was apparent as he took in the sight round him. Everything so familiar and people close enough to touch, but as Laurent walked _right through _him and charged Emmett, understanding dawned and with it a wave of panic that was fucking palpable.

"You'll stay where you are, and you'll watch as my family _annihilates _your pathetic coven." I spoke each word with perfect control.

James watched in rapt horror as Edward and Victoria stalked each other.

"Thought you could just take her, Victoria?" Edward asked, stepping closer to her.

Her movements hitched at the mention of her name. "Where is James?" she screeched, her face morphing into a truly ugly mask.

A grin crafted by the devil himself formed on Edward's lips. "Careful, Victoria, your fear is showing," Edward purred, seconds before he dove across the room and captured her around the waist.

She struggled to get free, but the effort was staunched by Rose. Rose gripped her from behind and whispered in her ear, "Ready to meet your maker, cupcake?"

Cleanly and quickly, Edward took the head off the beautiful redhead while Rose held her squirming body still. He dropped the disembodied head, and it hit the floor with a sickening thump and rolled to the side. James roared and his face became the picture of pure rage. He made a move to stand, and I laid my hand to rest on his head.

"You'll watch every struggle, every last moment. You'll watch the light go out of their eyes. And then, I'll usher you into the darkness myself, James."

His eyes shone with a mixture of hate and fear, and his fists clenched at his sides.

"I know what you are...who you are. Was it a surprise to see Alice, the tiny broken girl that got away from you so many years ago?"

Alice knew little of her life before becoming a vampire, but the things James thought as he wrapped his wicked hands around Alice left little to the imagination. Edward fed me every bit of it, like pouring fuel on an already raging fire.

He'd watched Alice from afar, locked in her small cell in a place never meant for humans. Then, becoming brave, he would sneak into her room and taunt her. The delight he took in playing with her seeped through into his thoughts, and it only worked to anger Edward...and the angel standing before him.

"Watch!" I demanded, my hand shoving his head down.

Emmett and Jasper closed in on Laurent, cornering him. Jasper's strike was swift and proficient, knocking Laurent back several feet. Each took a side and pulled. Laurent's arms dislocated, and with a final jerk, ripped away from his body completely. He screamed in pain.

Esme and Carlisle busied themselves with the remains of Victoria, collecting them and moving them to the backyard where they'd had a pyre waiting. The sliding glass doors offered James a perfect view as Victoria's broken body was unceremoniously heaved into the blaze. A swirl of grey-purple smoke rose, and James let out a pained groan.

I looked back at the scene still playing out in the house. Without a word between them, Em and Jasper went at the dark vampire again. One went high, one went low. The result was a vampire split in two. James watched from the ground as Laurent met the same fiery fate.

Grabbing a fist full of hair, I pulled his face up. "Guard's are interesting creatures. We're built to protect, to keep safe."

His posture relaxed just the slightest, fooled by my soothing tone.

"We're loyal and loving. We're problem solvers. But don't be fooled, James, we are dangerous creatures. Our wings give us flight and beauty, but first and foremost, they are weapons." I reached behind me and plucked a single feather from my waning wings. "No God, however peaceful and loving, would leave their creations without defense."

I slowly walked around him, my hand still gripping his hair tightly. "The lion as its strong jaw and keen hunting skills, even the gentle lamb has the means to defend. Humans, I find are particularly dangerous. Not only do they have two hands to maim, they also have the intelligence to build things to destroy." I pulled his head back, and his neck bowed painfully.

"I have a simple feather."

A smile snaked across his face. He was stupid enough to believe that he'd walk away from this.

_Insolence is truly a curse. _

Smiling down at him, I placed the feather against his neck and let it glide across his throat like a bow stroking the taut strings on a violin. His cocky smile faded as he reached for his neck. A clear liquid stained with a pink tint slowly oozed from the wound. Venom. The venom that had been keeping him alive all these years now trickled down his neck in thick rivulets. James slumped to the ground, the venom pooling around him.

"Here it's the beautiful things that can kill you."

The moment James' eyes took on a vacant look; I was blown back, forced through the film so quickly, I had no time to catch myself. I landed on the floor of the Cullen's living room with a loud crash.

"Well that was the most _graceless_ thing, I've ever seen," Emmett said as he picked me up off the floor.

"I don't think I have any left, Em."

* * *

**End Notes:** Please, please, please, you need to tell me what you thought of this. This was many hours of planning and plotting, deleting and cursing.

Song selections for this chapter: _**Seven Devils**_ by **Florence + The Machine**, _**Dust Bowl Dance**_ by **Mumford and Sons, **_**Oh Death**_by** Jen Titus, **and_**Judith **_by_** A **_**Perfect Circle. **All of them have an air of wrath to them, I think.

Also, voting has begun for the **Dirty Talkin' Edward Contest** over on FFN. Go read, review, and vote. Some hot as hell entries in there.

Thanks for reading and I'll catch ya in the next chapter. And yup, we're drawing to a close, friends.

_**~Jen**_


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